Weekly News Summary For June 20–26, 2005:
Grupo IMSA, a multinational metal-processing company headquartered in Kalama, Wash., has announced it will invest $200 million to build and outfit a 200,000-square-foot facility at the Port of Shreveport-Bossier, La. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco joined Grupo IMSA executives to make the announcement June 10.
The facility, for Grupo IMSA subsidiary Steelscape, will produce metallic-coated and pre-painted steel coils primarily for the construction and original-equipment-manufacturer markets in the United States and Canada. The project is expected to create up to 240 jobs.
"We are pleased to welcome Grupo IMSA and Steelscape to Louisiana," Blanco said. "This company is well known in the steel products industry for their quality, reliability and customer service.
"Steelscape is the kind of company that we are proud to recruit to Louisiana. Their record reflects a commitment to safety, health and environmental responsibility. As for bringing quality jobs to our state, Steelscape will provide competitive pay and outstanding benefits to its Louisiana work force."
The Steelscape facility, slated to produce 500,000 tons of finished product per year, is the largest individual project launched at the Port of Shreveport-Bossier. The company will build the production facility in four stages on a 78-acre site. The first stage of production is expected to be operational by the second quarter of 2006….
Pilots on the Lower Mississippi River (LMR) are petitioning the Department of Homeland Security for a fiber optic phone system to their remote station at Pilottown to replace the existing system, which has been causing problems.
An interim fix of the phone service for Pilottown has made service better, but it’s still not as good as it needs to be, said Mike Loriano, president of the Associated Branch Pilots.
BellSouth officials scrambled to work out a "spoken agreement" to relocate the microwave dish serving the community of Pilottown from a private tower to a Coast Guard tower, said Billy Tauzin III, a BellSouth spokesman. Pilottown is near the Head of Passes on the Mississippi River.
The verbal agreement was worked out to expedite service to the pilots while BellSouth’s real estate department pursues a lease agreement….
It is not often that a museum becomes the subject of another museum’s display, but that was exactly the case when Southeast Missouri State University’s Southeast Missouri Regional Museum recently opened its exhibit "Riverboat Legacy: A Gift from the Golden Eagle River Museum." The exhibit highlights some of the collections the Cape Girardeau, Mo., museum received from the former Golden Eagle River Museum after it closed its doors for the final time last October.
On June 11, the museum invited the board and members of the Golden Eagle organization to a special reception to view the exhibit. In a short program, University Provost Jane Stevens welcomed the Golden Eagle members and thanked them for their generous gift. Stanley Grand, director of the Southeast Missouri Regional Museum, continued with his praise and gratitude, and Golden Eagle president William Shive spoke briefly about the group’s decision to disband their museum and distribute its collection to other institutions, including the Cape Girardeau
organization.
As you walk through the gallery doors, you first are struck by the size of the nine-foot-diameter pilot wheel standing in front of you. The wheel once steered the steamer Betsy Ann, a Mississippi River packet boat built in the 19th century. The thematically organized exhibit features more than a dozen models that document the history of the various forms of river transportation used on the Mississippi River, from the Native Americans’ bull boat, through the golden age of steamboating, and into the modern diesel towboats….
The Upper Mississippi is long tied to the movement of grain. As a diversified product mix has become a mainstay on the Upper Miss, many in the industry are looking to new ways to further promote the waterways while taking advantage of the resources and consumers of the region.
Dick Lambert, in charge of ports of waterways with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, is currently awaiting a study being conducted by a Minnesota university about the feasibility of bringing container-on-barge service to the Upper Mississippi.
With more corn being processed into ethanol and more grain being transported by rail to the Pacific Northwest, the demand for downbound water transport has decreased. Lambert said by taking advantage of container-on-barge service, the region will be able to capitalize on its already existing infrastructure.
"Some of that is going to ethanol and some of that is going to the Pacific Northwest," he said. "Ocean freight rates are so high out of the Gulf. With the increase in ethanol and high freight rates, it is something that goes in cycles. I’m sure it will change. Sometimes you need a little blood letting for change."
Total grain tonnage last year was 5 million as opposed to 7 or 7.5 million tons the previous year. Compared to 9 million tons two years’ prior, 5 million tons of grain represents a sharp decline, said Lambert….
Last month, Campbell Transportation Company Inc. and its subsidiary C & C Marine Maintenance Company christened two towboats. On May 19, C & C welcomed the Andrea S into its fleet and on May 25, Campbell welcomed the Louise S.
Both boats are named after relatives of Campbell chairman Peter Stephaich, thus spanning three generations—the Louise S for his mother and the Andrea S for his 16-year-old daughter.
Campbell, based in Charleroi, Pa., bought the Louise S (formerly Jack Flahaut) last year from Memco Barge Line Inc. It is a twin to the C.J. Queenan (formerly Harry Waddington) that the company also bought last year from Memco. Both boats were built by Nashville Bridge Company in 1968 for Inland Oil & Transport Company.
The Louise S is a 150- by 36-foot, triple-screw towboat powered by three GM 12-645E2 diesels, rated at 3,900 hp. It has Falk 4.174:1 reduction gears.
Like the C.J. Queenan, the boat was in pristine condition, said Campbell president Don Grimm. The firm put it straight to work in the coal trade between Huntington, W.Va., and Pittsburgh.
The Andrea S is a 60- by 21-foot harborboat formerly named Kay-H, which Campbell bought from G & C Towing Inc. in 1990. C & C Marine completely refurbished the vessel….
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