Weekly News Summary For June 9-15, 2008:
Seven crew members were rescued from a towing vessel that partially sank near Mile 12 of the Missouri River, near West Alton, Mo., in the early morning of May 30.
The mv. Omaha, operated by Excell Marine, was carrying about 22,000 gallons of fuel oil and an undetermined amount of lube oil. The vessel was intentionally grounded by its captain after a deckhand reported water coming on board after a collision with an unknown obstruction.
In a Friday press release, the Coast Guard said, “Agencies and organizations participating in this response include the Missouri State Water Patrol, the River’s Point Fire Protection District, the St. Charles local emergency planning committee, the Missouri State Department of Natural Resources, the St. Louis Metro Police Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the vessel owner.”
The Missouri River was closed to vessel traffic between Miles 10.5 and 11.7.
Early media stories focused on fuel leakage and the possibility of diesel fuel entering into a drinking water intake valve at the Chain of Rocks water treatment facility 10 miles downriver from the grounding site. Booms and pads were deployed around the vessel to contain and soak up any leaked fuel. According to Excell’s president Paul Klausen, divers plugged the vessel’s fuel vents at 11 a.m. May 31….
The Pittsburgh Engineer District reopened the main lock chamber at Monongahela River Locks and Dam 2 at Braddock, Pa., June 2, following a weekend-long closure caused by damage to the gate anchorage on the upstream land wall. The reopening came a day ahead of schedule after Corps repair crews worked around the clock over the weekend.
The closure greatly delayed commercial and recreational traffic on the river with towboats waiting nearly 17 hours to lock through the 56- by 360-foot auxiliary chamber. Lockages through that chamber take eight times longer than through the main 110- by 720-foot lock chamber, the Corps said.
Lock staff noticed the damage during a shift change inspection just after midnight May 30. A Corps repair party rapidly deployed to the site and immediately began assessing the damage and fixing the anchorage. The navigation industry quickly responded to the Corps’ closure notices by adjusting schedules.
Crews from the Corps’ Pittsburgh Engineers Warehouse and Repair (PEWARS) branch removed a damaged I-beam embedded into the lock wall and transported it to the warehouse facility, where machinists fabricated a new steel member. A Corps official said the beam design was unique to that facility; crews replaced the original anchorage assembly during a 1953 rehabilitation project….
The Lower Mississippi River has been especially plagued by high water so far this year. Other rivers have been up and back down, but the Lower came up and seemed to want to stay there. A traffic advisory system was established at Baton Rouge and Vicksburg, staffed by knowledgeable rivermen in an effort to minimize the risk of incidents by monitoring traffic and to provide up to date information to tows passing through the areas.
While the Baton Rouge operation ceased with the falling river levels there, Vicksburg was still in effect at this writing, and was expected to be so until the gauge dropped to at least 40 feet. No southbound traffic was allowed to transit the area between Kings Point light and the Vicksburg bridges during the hours of darkness, and during daylight no passing traffic was allowed in the same area. The traffic operation would close shop at nightfall, and vessels then reported in to Coast Guard Sector Lower Miss until the center resumed operations at 6 a.m….
Paul Rohde, Waterways Council Inc.’s vice president-midwest region, has been named a “Hero of Conservation” for 2008 by Field and Stream magazine. The award is presented to honor “extraordinary outdoorsmen and women who have shown an unwavering commitment to restoring the habitats and wildlife in their local communities.” Rohde was recognized for “making a career out of river protection” in his work as former president of the Midwest Area River Coalition (MARC 2000) and now as WCI’s vice president.
“We are very proud of Paul Rohde for being recognized by this national publication for his conservation efforts,” said R. Barry Palmer, Waterways Council’s president and chief executive officer. “Those of us involved in navigation modernization on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers have looked to Paul, our Midwest advocate, for organizing construction authorization efforts to improve seven locks on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers in the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). WRDA 2007 will also authorize spending for more than 105,000 acres of habitat along the Mississippi River as part of its critically important ecosystem restoration component….”
In a recent phone call to The Waterways Journal, a longtime reader and friend asked, “Is it true? Is there a fireplace on the new Blessey Boat?”
Yes, it is true, and that is just the beginning of it!
Christened on May 2 in New Orleans, the mv. Charlie Melancon is the latest vessel to be launched from Verret Shipyards. Named for the second-term Louisiana congressman, it is the 50th vessel for Blessey, but it stands alone.
Besides the electric fireplace, it is the first Verret boat to be built with kort nozzles—Rice Heavy Duty River Nozzles purchased from Byrne Rice & Turner Inc. At 116 by 34 feet, it is the largest vessel ever built at the shipyard. The boat has an advanced wheelhouse console and computer system featuring retractable radar monitors. The vessel’s steering system may be the first of its kind on any inland towboat of this size. And these are just a list of new features, not to mention the amenities that have become standard on Blessey boats.
The mv. Charlie Melancon is powered by two 1,600 hp. Cummins KTA50M diesel engines coupled to Reintjes WAF773 reduction gears turning Rolls Royce 86- by 87-inch propellers. A pair of Cummins 88 kw. generators supply the auxiliary power. Cummins Mid-South supplied the engines, Karl Senner provided the gears and Johnny’s Propeller Shop furnished the wheels.
Inside the hull, there is tankage for 50,000 gallons of fuel, 20,000 gallons of water and 500 gallons of lube oil….
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