Weekly News Summary for April 21-27, 2008:
Vessel operators will soon have the advantage of electronic charts for the inland waterways that can show updated changes in the channel migration, Michael F. Winkler said at the Inland Rivers, Ports, and Terminals (IRPT) annual meeting in New Orleans on April 10.
Winkler, a research hydraulic engineer with the Corps of Engineers, said the inland electronic charts will be much like the one mariners now use below the Huey P. Long Bridge and near coastal areas.
In addition, the system can be used to receive real-time data on lock conditions, traffic incidents and notices to mariners, he said. Vessel Traffic Service alerts can be sent using the system’s text messaging capabilities as well as river stages.
The electronics combine radar, Automatic Identification System (AIS) data and the electronic charts, allowing a vessel operator to cross-reference data on one screen, and not requiring several screens in the wheelhouse.
The backbone is the AIS equipment, which will soon be required on inland vessels, much as it is now required on coastal vessels, Winkler said.
“Increased safety is the biggest reason for the implementation, but it will also improve efficiency,” he said. Instead of running full throttle only to be caught in a traffic jam, mariners can use the electronics to look ahead to a lock to see if a queue is forming and slow down well in advance….
The Corps of Engineers began opening the Bonnet Carré Spillway above New Orleans on April 11, dumping Mississippi River water into Lake Pontchartrain and relieving some of the pressure on earthen levees in the city.
With Gov. Bobby Jindal and a gathering of hundreds looking on, the Corps used a crane to begin pulling 19-foot long timbers, called pins, to lower the expected crest of the swollen river. Estimates put the number of onlookers at close to 1,000 over the course of the day, many of whom brought cameras, lawn chairs and ice chests.
A total of 350 bays are available for opening. Each bay has 20 timbers. When fully opened, the spillway, which runs for 5.7 miles and is 7,700 feet wide at the river, is designed to carry 250,000 cubic feet of water per second (cfs.). During a 1945 opening, the spillway actually carried 43,000 cfs. above the design load.
This was the ninth opening of the spillway in its 76-year history. Planned after the 1927 flood, the structure became fully operational in 1932. The last opening was in 1997….
Maritime interests had much praise for the efforts of the local Corps of Engineers officials they deal with on a day-to day basis, but questioned the commitment of higher officials in the government, including Congress and the president, to keep navigation channels at authorized depths and make needed upgrades to the aging locks.
The comments were made at a public hearing as part of the high water inspection tour by the Mississippi River Commission. The hearing was held April 11 aboard the mv. Mississippi, which was docked at the Corps facility at the foot of Prytania Street in New Orleans.
Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh presided over the public hearing in New Orleans. He is the presidential-designee to head up the commission, replacing Brig. Gen. Robert Crear. Brig. Gen. Walsh is commander of the Vicksburg Engineer Division.
Raymond Butler, executive director of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association, showed the commission members pictures of the deteriorated Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Lock, which moves vessel traffic from the Mississippi River eastward along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida panhandle….
With people and equipment of Martin Marine glommed together from six different companies, the barge and towing firm’s senior vice president faced the difficult task of creating an easily recognizable brand. Ed Grimm relished the challenge.
Many of the assets that now comprise Martin Marine were obtained from Tenn-Tom Towing Company, Midstream Fuel Service, Tesoro Marine, Martin Gas Marine, Barge Transport and Martin Offshore. To consolidate those assets, Grimm was hired in 2006 from Houston Marine Services, where he had been chief operating officer.
Martin Marine, based in La Porte, Texas, transports petroleum products and byproducts throughout the Gulf Coast region.
One of the initial steps was modernizing the company’s fleet of towboats, which included standardization of equipment, color scheme and logo. The first boat to be transformed was the mv. Martin Captain.
The then 800 hp. towboat was built 34 years ago as the Friendly Joe by C.F. Bean Corporation in Plaquemine, La., for Wallo Marine Towing. Martin Marine bought it in 2003 from Tesoro Marine. There had been a couple owners in between….
Barry Palmer, who led the successful lobbying group DINAMO for 22 years and then oversaw the creation of Waterways Council Inc., has announced he will retire at the end of this year from his position as president and chief executive officer of WCI.
Dan Mecklenborg, WCI chairman, announced April 11 that an executive search has begun to identify a successor. WCI’s executive committee has retained JDG Associates Ltd., Rockville, Md, to conduct the national search for a successor for Palmer. A search committee to evaluate both internal and external candidates, led by Mecklenborg, has been organized and is composed of WCI executive committee members Rick Calhoun, president of Cargo Carriers; Mark Knoy, president of AEP MEMCO LLC; Merritt Lane, president and chief executive officer of Canal Barge Company; Berdon Lawrence, chairman of the board, Kirby Corporation; Pete Lilly, president-coal group, CONSOL Energy Inc.; and Rodney Weinzierl, executive director of the Illinois Corn Growers Association.
“It is nearly impossible to envision Waterways Council without Barry Palmer as its leader,” Mecklenborg said in the announcement. “Barry has been the face, as well as the heart and soul, of inland navigation advocacy for more than 25 years. While his colleagues and friends will wish him the very best in his upcoming retirement, it will seem like the end of an era without Barry at the helm of our organization.”…
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