Weekly News Summary For June 23-29, 2008:
The Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MR-GO) was officially deauthorized by the Corps of Engineers on June 5 when the assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works forwarded to Congress the “U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chief’s Report for the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Deep-Draft De-Authorization Study.”
The embattled waterway, which local residents called a “Hurricane Highway,” was designed in the mid-1960s to be a shorter, slack-water channel to bring shipping from the Gulf of Mexico to eastern New Orleans.
But after Hurricane Katrina, storm surge models showed that in a massive storm such as the 2005 one, the wind-blown water completely engulfs and overwhelms the entire marsh lands. It is only in small storms that the MR-GO was a conduit for storm surge, the studies showed.
Nevertheless, Louisiana’s congressional delegation convinced the Corps to deauthorize the MR-GO, bowing to pressure from local residents whose homes and businesses were flooded by storm surge.
The waterway was little-used by deep-draft shipping. According to reports by crews who rode container ships up the MR-GO to the Port of New Orleans’ France Road Terminal, interaction with the bottom of the 36-foot deep channel caused deep-draft vessels to shudder the entire trip up the waterway. With a ship’s draft nearing 36 feet, the propeller would suck water out of the marshes as it approached, and a wave described as six feet high would follow, as wash behind the ships would send that water back into the marshes, much to the chagrin of mostly recreational fishermen who frequently sought redfish and speckled trout in the tidal waters.
The wave action from the ships caused the banks to slough off into the waterway. While the initial channel was 650 feet in width, the channel widened to a reported 3,000 feet in places.
That, and the salt-water intrusion it allowed, were largely responsible for destroying a large cypress swamp that helped protect New Orleans from hurricanes approaching from the southeast.
But while residents were happy with the Corps deauthorization, it creates a problem for shallow-draft tows, crossing the Mississippi River for the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) to the east….
In Iowa, the flood of 2008 topped 1993 levels in some locations on the Upper Mississippi.
So far, the floods have killed at least five people, caused almost 40,000 to be evacuated, closed bridges over the Mississippi, disrupted barge, rail and road traffic, and destroyed billions of dollars worth of crops at a time of already strong demand.
Agricultural losses in Iowa alone were tentatively estimated at $1 billion, although the full economic damage won’t be known until the water recedes enough to allow officials to visit flooded areas and make more accurate estimates.
In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1,300 city blocks were flooded and 25,000 people evacuated from the city of 120,000. The Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce told the Chicago Tribune that rebuilding costs could hit $3 billion.
By Wednesday, Reuters was already reporting higher corn prices, after up to 5 million acres of cropland were reported flooded. Chicago Board of Trade corn prices hit a record $8.07 a bushel in Tuesday night trading….
Genesis Energy, Houston, Texas, announced June 12 that it had entered into an agreement to participate in a joint venture with TD Marine to operate an inland barge transportation company. The venture will acquire and operate the assets and business of Grifco Transportation Ltd., also headquartered in Houston.
The total value of the transaction when complete will be approximately $125 million in cash and stock. About $80 million will be paid at closing, which is anticipated July 1, when DG will accept 12 barges and seven towboats from Grifco, along with office and warehouse space. The remainder will be paid following the delivery of eight new barges and the acquisition of three additional pushboats, expected by next year.
TD Marine is owned and controlled by members of the Davison family of Ruston, La. Genesis acquired five energy-related businesses from the Davison family in July 2007.
The joint venture, known as DG Marine Transportation LLC, will be owned 51 percent by TD Marine and 49 percent by Genesis.
The joint venture will serve refineries and storage terminals along the Gulf Coast, Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Red, Ouachita and Mississippi rivers on which Genesis has significant existing terminals….
On June 12, members of the Port Authority of the City of Fort Smith, Ark., met to switch port operators.
The meeting resulted in a set of agreements that ended current litigation between the port authority and the facility’s current operator, Kinder Morgan River Terminals LLC. They also ended existing agreements that bound the port to the Kinder Morgan lease until 2031. Kinder Morgan agreed not to operate any competing port facilities within a 50-mile perimeter of Fort Smith. Kinder Morgan also agreed to provide the port authority payments or benefits amounting to $15,000, and to contribute to certain infrastructure improvements in the first five years after the agreement begins.
At the same meeting, Five Rivers Distribution LLC was named the new port operator. The company operates a port in Crawford County. Five Rivers agreed to make payments to the Fort Smith Port Authority based on tonnage from the Fort Smith and Van Buren locales.
Rick Parrish, chairman of the Fort Smith Port Authority, said in a press release, “This series of agreements not only increases our capacity, it should also help keep shipping costs affordable for companies that employ a lot of people in our region.”…
For many years before the advent of more modern methods of communication, Capt. Jack Green would use a pay phone ashore to report to his home office. In his pocket he carried quarters for the calls, and his habit of constantly jingling them developed into an annoyance for anyone around him, according to his son, Troy.
Capt. Jack’s other characteristics, however, are far from nettlesome, said Walter E. Blessey Jr., owner and chief executive officer of Blessey Marine Services, at the christening of a new towboat named in Green’s honor. The ceremony was held at Brady’s Landing on the Houston Ship Channel May 16.
Reading comments from the namesake’s peers, Blessey said Capt. Jack is regarded as “a true professional in the wheelhouse,” “a happy-go-lucky guy with a great attitude about the towboat industry and life in general,” someone who “ treats everyone on the boats with respect,” “always goes beyond the call of duty,” is “a nice gentleman, calm and laid back who has forgotten more than most wheelmen will ever know,” “a pleasure to work with,” “very quiet and qualified,” and “a fine, fine man.” Also, it was offered that “when he speaks, you’d better listen, because he knows what he’s talking about.”
A native of Aransas Pass, Texas, Green started working on boats in 1950 for Lloyd Richardson Dredging and Anderson Petroleum Company. He hired on at Blessey in 1988—the very first day of business for the company—on the mv. Ruth Blessey. He retired in 1997, only to return about a year later as a trip pilot, which is what he remains today.
Together, Green and his son, who also works for Blessey, have 74 years on the river, Capt. Jack with 58 and Troy with 26….
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