Weekly News Summary For April 24-30, 2006:
Users Board Annual Report Calls For Congressional Action
The Inland Waterways Users Board recently published its 20th annual report in which the board continued to call for immediate congressional action to upgrade and improve the inland waterway system.
It further states, “the Inland Waterways Users Board is extremely concerned and again reports…that this invaluable system is exhibiting signs of serious neglect. Delays and slippage in completion schedules of a number of Inland Waterways Trust Fund financed projects have compounded that maintenance budget crisis as aging facilities, in the process of being replaced, are forced to remain in service for extended periods. In 2005, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the inland navigation system a near failing grade of D minus.
“Over the past 10 years the board has witnessed a 110 percent increase in unscheduled lock outage hours while at the same time the maintenance backlog for navigation facilities has grown to over $600 million.”
The board supports a balanced program including new and replacement construction, major rehabilitation and small-scale improvements of inland navigation facilities without the imposition of additional fuel taxes. The board is opposed to any increase in user fees, be they fuel taxes, lockage or congestion fees, harbor maintenance fees or ton-mile fees. The board believes the maintenance of the existing system is the federal responsibility and hopes several measures aimed toward project construction and operating cost reductions will preclude any other proposals for fuel tax increases….
An additional $648 million earmarked for port security and approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee drew praise from the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA).
Founded in 1912, AAPA represents 150 of the leading public port authorities in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. It also represents 300 members with interests in Western Hemisphere shipping.
The additional funding proposal came as an amendment offered by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) to the FY 2006 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill.
A release by AAPA said the Senate Appropriations supplemental bill allocates a total of $106.5 billion in emergency funding, including $72 billion for the global war on terror and $27 billion for hurricane recovery efforts.
Within the $648 million port security amendment to the bill is $227 million of additional funds for the federal Port Security Grant program, $211 million for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to purchase 60 more cargo container inspection systems, $23 million for CBP to hire 50 additional port inspectors, $23 million for the Coast Guard to triple the number of port security plan specialists, $32 million for CBP to hire 85 cargo container security specialists and $132 million to place more than 300 additional radiation portal monitors in U.S. seaports to check cargo containers for radioactive materials….
“March shipping tonnage through the Tulsa Port of Catoosa was down slightly from the February amount,” said Steve Kissee, chairman of the City of Tulsa-Rogers County Port Authority in the port authority’s regular monthly report. “This is a result of the seasonality of our commodity mix and does not indicate softness in any of our markets.
“Inbound steel, pipe and dry fertilizer were up while molasses and refined petroleum products were down. Outbound soy and other miscellaneous grain shipments were less than February’s, but wheat shipments remained strong, thanks, in part, to Nigeria,” said Kissee.
With imports of 3.1 million U.S. tons this year, Nigeria is the world’s leading customer of U.S. wheat, and sales are climbing. Nigerian imports are 29 percent higher than they were last year at this time. Japan is the second largest wheat importer and Mexico third.
Hard red winter wheat, the class that generally flows through the Tulsa Port of Catoosa, is currently running 12 percent higher than last year….
Ashton Boat Construction LLC, located on the Harvey Canal, Harvey, La., just completed its third vessel, the last two of which are owned by Blessey Marine Services Inc., Harahan, La.
The vessel, the mv. Stacy Shelby, is a sister vessel to the mv. Capt. Billy J. Verdin. It is 75 by 28 feet with a 10.6-foot draft. The vessel has the same equipment on board as its sister, including twin Cummins KTA38MO diesel engines rated at 1,700 hp. total provided by Cummins Mid-South. Auxiliary power is supplied by a pair of Kilo-Pak 80 kw. generators driven by John Deere diesels, supplied by Reagan Equipment Company, Harvey, La.
Jonny White’s C & W Air Repair, Marrero, La., supplied the main engine-control system and the air compressors. The company also sub-contracted some of the electrical work and even helped paint and clean the boat the day before the christening. Jonny White started the business in the early 70s. White’s son, Rodney, joined the company in the early 80s….
Following 20 years of operation from a converted duplex house in a mixed business/residential neighborhood outside of town, Western Kentucky Navigation Inc. is now at home in a new facility designed specifically for its own use, only a few blocks from the Ohio River in downtown Paducah, Ky. The attractive headquarters facility is nestled among several other prominent marine firms that have either relocated or expanded their presence in the area. Another well-known carrier is expected to make a formal announcement soon regarding its new facility in the same area.
The new address is 631 South Second St., Paducah, Ky. 42003. The telephone number has changed to 270, 415-9956 and the fax number is 270, 415-9950. The firm’s e-mail address is wknboat@bellsouth.net.
Capt. David E. Dewey, company founder and president, said the new office complex allows for quicker access to local marine service and supply vendors while providing larger accommodations for the firm’s growing office force, which has also expanded in recent months. He said the new facility also provides much more parking space for crew members who leave their vehicles behind while aboard the boats.
The new facility was formerly home to a furniture repair and warehouse operation and has been extensively remodeled to better serve the towing company’s needs. During a four-month remodeling project, the building was gutted and stripped to the bare walls and rebuilt to provide individual offices for the 10-person staff, in addition to a training room and lounge for crew members awaiting transportation for regular crew changes. Also added was a warehouse for vessel supplies, which were previously kept in an adjacent garage behind their former site….
The Waterways Journal encourages letters to the editor.
Have something on your mind?
Send letters to: jshoulberg@waterwaysjournal.net.
(Please indicate whether or not your letter is intended for publication.)
