Weekly News Summary For April 18–24, 2005:
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2005 (S. 728) April 13, one week after the measure was introduced by Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.) and 16 Senate colleagues.
Among other things, the proposed legislation would authorize $2.5 billion for the construction of seven new locks on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, including $1.58 billion for ecosystem restoration.
Attracting most of the attention prior to the vote was an amendment by Sen. James M. Jeffords (I-Vt.). The amendment, which was eventually rejected, would have established an independent peer review process within the office of the inspector general of the Army. The amendment also would have required the secretary of the Army to establish a Water Resources Planning Council to identify and review the methods, models and processes of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Furthermore, the amendment would have directed the inspector general to convene an independent peer review panel prior to the submission of a project study or report required to be submitted to Congress for authorization….
Rubber, once transported to the Midwest entirely by truck, is now one of the newest commodities to take advantage of barge transportation.
Since May 2004, Ingram Barge Company has been transporting natural raw rubber from New Orleans to Mt. Vernon, Ill., for Continental Tire North America Inc.
The rubber tree grows in Southeast Asia. After being extracted, the rubber is shipped to New Orleans and then loaded on barge destined for the Paducah McCracken County Riverport Authority, Paducah, Ky. Located at the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio rivers, the port is a good strategic location as it is eventually trucked just a short distance away to Continental’s plant in Mt. Vernon.
This commodity didn’t switch to barge transportation overnight— reportedly the process took several years to come to fruition. Evidenced by the warehouse full of rubber, Continental decided to give river transportation a chance. Now, almost one year after the start of the project, confidence is growing….
Eight times as many containers could be moved through Louisiana, primarily through the Port of New Orleans, in the next 20 years if port officials aggressively develop the container-on-barge concept and utilize the Lower Mississippi River, a study released by Louisiana’s Millennium Port Authority concludes.
Edward “Ned” Peak, executive director of the state’s Millennium Port Authority, released the study and said a significant increase in containers moving through New Orleans could be realized in just two years.
Last year approximately 251,000 20-foot equivalent unit boxes (TEU’s) were shipped through New Orleans. That number could jump to 600,000 TEU’s within two years if the proposed Sea Point container terminal is built near the mouth of the Mississippi River.
If port officials continue “business as usual,” the study projected a half-million containers would move through the Port of New Orleans yearly in 20 years. Aggressively luring Asian shippers to the mouth of the Mississippi River with container-on-barge could make that number jump to 6 million boxes, Peak said the study revealed….
The newest and largest port near Chicago opened for business on March 31. The Port of Will County, located 45 miles from downtown Chicago, is a private partnership headed by Gerard Keating, and is located on 257 acres along the Des Plaines River Mile at 284.5.
“We have been operating well, “ said Keating. “Since our opening date, we have already secured a contract for 400,000 tons of sand to offload. Everything has been going beyond our expectations for the past two weeks.”
The port’s location is on what used to be an industrial manufacturing facility. Keating said that site had been closed for 13 years. After examining the property and its potential, the decision was made to buy it and redevelop it.
“It was attractive because of its location,” he said. “It is located at the intersection of I-80 and I-55, the crossroads of the U.S. The shear size of the land lent itself well for a port. It was also already permitted to be a port. So I’d say location number one, fully permitted number two and the fact that the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad and Canadian National Railroad service the area as the third reason to develop the site as a port. It is truly an intermodal facility with the best location in Chicago.”…
It’s a good time to be Paul Latture. As port director for the Little Rock Port Authority, he has seen tonnage at the port grow steadily over the past few years. Last year, the port handled 562,000 tons. Although Latture said he would be happy with numbers similar to those of 2004, early numbers for 2005 are already showing a 20 percent increase.
“In 2002 we had 384,000 tons, in 2003 we had 434,000 tons and then 2004 we had 562,000 tons,” he said. “In 2005, it looks like we are going to beat that. We are now up 20 percent. The year is young yet, but we like the way the numbers are looking.”
The Port of Little Rock has a 1,500 acre industrial park and is designated a Foreign Trade Zone. It is located about seven miles east of downtown Little Rock along the banks of the Arkansas River and is served by two first class railroads. The port is adjacent to I-440, which connects to I-30 and I-40. The port is also within one mile of the Little Rock National Airport.
The cornerstone to the continued growth at the port is the $13 million infrastructure improvements. Those improvements included a new dock facility, new warehouses, new bulk products pier, new rail service into the port's slackwater harbor along with road, water and sewer installations….
The Coast Guard and local agencies teamed up on April 8 to contain an estimated 30 breakaway barges that broke free and drifted about 1.5 miles north of the Cochran Bridge in Mobile, Ala.
The Coast Guard received the report at about 8 a.m. that the barges were drifting down Mobile River. Alabama State Docks, Cooper Fleet and Tugs and the Coast Guard cutter Stingray worked together to gather the barges….
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