Capsule News Summary For March 21–27, 2005:
Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.) agreed with some of the administration’s fiscal year 2006 budget proposals for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers but criticized the priorities in the budget request as "not based on any coherent transportation, flood control or ecosystem restoration policy."
For example, Duncan said, in allocating funding to the Corps for operating and maintaining the inland waterways, the budget request would eliminate funding for many tributary waterways because they do not carry as much cargo as the mainstem waterways.
"This rationale demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of how the inland waterways system works by ignoring the fact that two-thirds of all tonnage on the system either begins or ends on these tributary waterways," Duncan said. "If you eliminate them, you threaten the economic viability of the entire waterway transportation system"
Duncan, in remarks at the opening of a hearing by his House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee March 10, said if the White House request evaluated waterways projects as part of the intermodal transportation system, it would recommend funding for the ongoing construction of Chickamauga Lock on the Tennessee River. If that lock failed, Duncan said, the river would be closed to transportation above the lock, cutting off Knoxville, Oak Ridge, and other communities to water transportation.
"If only half of the cargo that is handled by this lock switches to truck, an additional 45,000 tractor trailer trucks will be congesting the roads of East Tennessee," Duncan said. "For Oak Ridge, it means that equipment that is too large for truck transportation will not be delivered at all. This is unacceptable transportation policy and should be unacceptable on national security grounds as well."…
The 18th annual Barge Fleet Profile, indicating another year of declines for the U.S. inland barge fleet, down more than 2,000 barges from an historical high just six years ago, is now available.
The profile is an annual report published by Informa Economics and identifies the line haul, commodity-carrying fleet of inland barges operating on the Mississippi River system, its connecting waterways and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
The profile also reports that in this past year, although 510 new barges were added to the overall fleet, barge operators retired 942 barges. In addition, new barge construction saw its first year-over-year increase after six consecutive years of declines.
CSG Company LLC, Pittsburgh, Pa., and the Port of Pittsburgh Commission announced last week that container-on-barge (COB) service to the port will begin May 2.
"We are excited about the opportunities the COB service opens for many more companies in the upper Ohio River valley," said Buddy Johns, president of CSG, in a company announcement. The service will operate twice each month from Pittsburgh to New Orleans and back to Pittsburgh.
Crowded ports on both coasts and rising fuel costs are moving more traffic to New Orleans, where the Napoleon Container Yard was opened last year, and Biloxi, Miss., both with easy access to the Mississippi and Ohio river systems, Johns said.
"CSG has done its homework, is prepared to bring this service here for the long run and will have economic development impacts for the region for the future," said James McCarville, executive director of the Port of Pittsburgh Commission….
A towboat crew is being praised for heroism after rescuing 10 people from Matagorda Bay near Port O’Connor, Texas.
According to Coast Guard reports, 12 people were aboard an 18-foot boat when it capsized in the bay March 12. The Coast Guard estimated that the winds were 15–20 mph. and the seas were two feet at the time of the accident. They were apparently in the water for several hours before the capsized boat was spotted by the crew of the mv. Miss Julie, which was towing one barge in the north channel of the bay. The 800 hp. Miss Julie is owned by Hard’s Marine Service Ltd., Hull, Texas.
"I spotted a capsized boat coming southbound in Matagorda Bay," said Capt. Mike Allen, relief captain on the Miss Julie, who was on watch at the time. He called in a report to the Coast Guard on the boat, while a crew member scanned the water near the vessel with binoculars to see if any people were in the water nearby. After searching for several minutes, they identified a group of four people wearing orange vests in the water—and then a little further away, another group, and still further, a third group.
"I’m like, holy cow, we’ve got a lot of people in this water," he said….
Knowing only the names, one would think that Carline operates a fleet of Civil War gunboats: CSS Atlanta, CSS Richmond, CSS Louisiana, CSS Tennessee and so on. The most recent vessel, named CSS Savannah, only strengthens that assumption, when actually it and the others are all towboats owned by Carline Management Company Inc, Gonzales, La., which uses them for fleeting and towing between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
"Fred Parks, our owner for 24 years, is a huge Civil War buff," said Matt Kristof, newly appointed president. "In the office I occupy, there are oil renderings of the CSS Atlanta and CSS Richmond, two infamous confederate ironclads. When we run out of confederate names, I guess we’ll use union boats."
The CSS Savannah was built by Hope Services Inc., Dulac, La. Carline put it into service late last year, shuttling barges from just north of Baton Rouge to the Davant-Myrtle Grove area at Mile 55.
Constructed on Hope’s 72-foot hull design, which is its specialty, the CSS Savannah is 30 feet wide with a 10-foot draft. The only thing that differentiates it from Hope’s stock design is the full fleet deck. Normally there are two walkways leading to the push knees.
The vessel’s 1,700 hp. is supplied by twin Cummins KTA 38MO diesel engines. They turn 74-inch wheels on six-inch shafts, with Simplan leakless seals, through Twin Disc MG-540 reduction gears at a 6:1 ratio. The engines were supplied by Cummins Mid-South Inc., which also supplied the boat’s twin Cummins 6B5.9-powered, 50 kw. generator sets. Sewart Supply Inc. furnished the reduction gears….
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