Weekly News Summary For March 30-April 5, 2009:
Salvage operations began March 23 on a sunken barge in Biloxi’s Back Bay, three days after an eight-barge tow struck a drawbridge across the bay and caused its partial collapse.
The westbound tow was being pushed by the mv. Cheryl Stegbauer, operated by Southern Towing of Memphis. The tow struck the south end of the Popp’s Ferry Bridge, a north-south bridge spanning Biloxi’s Back Bay, at about 7:30 a.m. March 20. Bridge tender Margaret Johnson, the only person on the bridge, was rescued. No injuries were reported.
At the time, the drawbridge was upright for the tow to pass through. Horizontal clearance between bascule span tips is 180 with both bascule spans open. The navigation channel is about 150 feet wide.
The allision collapsed two 90-foot sections of the bridge, just south of the drawbridge span. One barge sank, and two others were partially submerged. The open hopper barges were carrying crushed limestone.
Coast Guard Sector Mobile launched 25-foot small boats and crews to the scene, and Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans launched an HH-65C rescue helicopter and an HC-144A Ocean Sentry plane from the Aviation Training Center in Mobile, Ala., to assist. Coast Guard investigators were dispatched to the scene; early reports indicated no pollution or injuries. An initial investigation revealed that all personnel were properly licensed….
Superior Boat Works Inc., a longtime repair yard in Greenville, Miss., has announced it is ceasing operations. Citing a lack of business due to the downturn in the economy, Collins Brent, president, said March 26 he had laid off the rest of his employees—a first round of layoffs occurred in January—and will keep only a skeleton crew to watch over the equipment. The company employed 45 workers.
“We are a victim of the economy,” Brent said, adding that he and his father, Lea, are in the process of finding a buyer. “It’s really tough for a small yard like us to survive during these times.”
The shipyard was started in the mid-1960s by Tiger Lyons and several others, he said. Brent Towing Company bought it in 1975….
Two St. Louis-area locks were closed for different reasons last week.
At Mel Price Locks and Dam, Upper Mississippi River Mile 201, both lock chambers were closed March 26 to replace an electrical panel damaged in a recent thunderstorm. The closure was scheduled to last from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., but the lock chambers were reopened by 11 a.m.
Downriver at Locks 27, however, the closure lasted a lot longer. The main chamber at the facility was closed at 9:45 p.m. March 22 after the operator noticed movement of the base of the anchorage of the hydraulic cylinder that moves one of the downstream miter gates. District structural engineers were contacted and they identified the problem as critical, and recommended that operation of the gate be suspended until they could assess the problem and make repairs.
Each gate leaf is 65 feet wide and 70 feet tall, and weighs 220 tons—about the same as the Statue of Liberty, the St. Louis Engineer District noted in a press release….
Robert B. Miller & Associates, a privately held barge operator in St. Louis, announced on March 25 the completion of a financing package of $28 million to finance 42 barges for a utility contract.
The barges, built by Trinity Marine Products Inc., were paid for and delivered to Savage Services during January and February.
Savage Services will operate all 42 barges to service a contract with electric utility Central Louisiana Electric Company (Cleco), to haul pet coke and aggregate for Cleco’s Rodemacher 3 power plant, located near Boyce, La., on the Red River. Expected to open in late 2009, the plant will use clean circulating fluidized-bed technology to generate 660 megawatts of electricity from two generators. The technology will allow the plant to burn either pet coke or coal. Cleco, which is investing about $1 billion in the project, serves about 280,000 customers in central Louisiana. The project created about 80 permanent jobs.
The essentials of the financing had been in place since 2007, shortly after Robert B. Miller was awarded the Cleco contract. But details remained to be worked out in “complex” negotiations between Robert B. Miller and Savage Services, according to R. Butler Miller, president of Robert B. Miller….
Following its annual captain’s meeting, Blessey Marine Services christened the mv. Alton St. Amant on March 5 in New Orleans. The boat is nearly identical to the last vessel built by Sneed Shipbuilding, the mv. Joseph F. Morrison, except it is two feet longer with a few minor adjustments.
Blessey Marine has been steadily growing over the years and, despite the economy, 2009 appears to be no different. This vessel is the 53rd boat for the liquid bulk transportation company and more are on the way.
“We are fortunate and blessed to have long-term contracts,” remarked Walter Blessey Jr. at the christening.
The namesake of the newest addition to the company’s fleet is the father of Capt. Edgar St. Amant, the pilot aboard Blessey’s retractable 2,400 hp. mv. Charles E. Martin. Edgar has been an employee of Blessey Marine since June 28, 1995 when he started as a relief captain aboard the mv. Charles Clark under Capt. Wayne Wood. With his wife, Mary Ann, he lives in Crown Point, La.
As Capt. St. Amant was unable to attend the event, his close friend and the captain on the mv. Charles E. Martin, Capt. Shawn Martinez, was the boat’s sponsor. Martinez spoke kindly of Edgar following the ceremony, telling The Waterways Journal that he was a fast learner regarding operations on the upper rivers and a “go with the flow” kind of guy….
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