Weekly News Summary For June 25 - July 1, 2007:
The Alabama Power Company has asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to be allowed to reduce the amount of flows the company is required to release into the Alabama River by about 40 percent.
Alabama Power Company also wants the Corps to release more water from upstream reservoirs in Georgia to assist in reservoir management.
The spokesman for the Alabama Power Company was unavailable for comment.
“The proposal is spawned by drought conditions in our area unlike any we have seen in our lifetime,” wrote Jerry Sailors, president of the Coosa-Alabama River Improvement Association, in a letter directed to the Corps of Engineers.
The Alabama Power Company has to release more water than it is getting, which affects lakes and reservoirs. Their request to the Corps, if granted, could help the company stabilize their reservoirs.
The Coosa-Alabama River Improvement Association (CARIA) consists of city and county governments, industries, small businesses and citizens from Rome, Ga., to Mobile, Ala. Some of the businesses will be shut down without enough water flow to sustain operations….
Two towboats sank at 4 a.m. June 20 on the Atchafalaya River in Krotz Springs, La.
The Miss Marjorie and the Amy Sue were tied together and moored to the dock at the Krotz Springs Valero Refinery when a deckhand noticed the Miss Marjorie taking on water, the Coast Guard reported.
The deckhand woke the captain and crew before the Miss Marjorie sank, subsequently sinking the Amy Sue. Three crewmembers safely jumped to the pier while the fourth, the captain, swam safely to shore. Coast Guard Lt. Todd Petersen said the water was 60 feet deep.
Pollution investigators from Marine Safety Unit Baton Rouge assessed the waterway and declared that of the estimated 500 gallons spilled, there was only minimal recoverable diesel fuel, which is being cleaned by spill contractors.
Salvage operations are expected to begin Friday by McKinney Salvage & Heavy Lift from Baton Rouge, La., and Big River Salvage in Vicksburg, Miss….
A group of industry officials and investors are making plans to build a new shipyard in Louisville, Ky.
The site will be at a dormant industrial property on the Ohio River in the Louisville & Jefferson County Riverport. The new facility will have a fabrication building, a maintenance building and a Wheelabrator building, along with a skid launchway.
The group expects to begin construction of the facility this summer and start building barges by the end of this year.
The management team of the firm, which is named McAlpine Marine Industries, includes Barker Price, a former vice president of Jeffboat LLC, which is right across the Ohio River at Jeffersonville, Ind.
Jeffersonville boasts a rich shipbuilding history, dating back to the late 1800s with Jeffboat predecessor Howard Ship Yard & Dock Company. Ironically, Louisville, on the south side of the Ohio River, has not had a new-construction shipyard for more than 100 years, said a McAlpine Marine Industries official….
St. Louis-based Dave Reidt is embarking on a new venture—a 10-acre shipyard in Ft. Smith, Ark., at Mile 301 on the Arkansas River.
The name of the holding company is Boatreidt Shipworks.
“This seems like a good time to be in the shipyard business. There’s a tremendous demand, and there’s few people filling that demand, so that’s how I got into the business,” Reidt, 60, said.
Reidt chose to open Ft. Smith Shipyard on the Arkansas River due to an available labor force at a reduced cost and little competition on that river.
“It’s a very fast growing river with lots of business, and it’s a good location from a weather standpoint,” he said.
Construction will start after July 4. Reidt will start with 50 employees and expects to eventually have a payroll of 150 people. Two 40,000-square-foot buildings will be on the property….
When Jason Belcher, chief financial officer of Florida Marine Transporters Inc., addressed the crowd that had gathered for a christening ceremony May 22, he talked about some of the more notable characteristics of his wife, one of the vessel’s namesakes.
“If my wife were president,” he said, “you would not use the Lord’s name in vain and you would (abide by) the Ten Commandments.” The Weimaraner would be the nation’s official dog, there would be an initiative to bring back written correspondence—no e-mail—and the major TV networks would be forced to change their programming in favor of rerunning “Bonanza” and “The Andy Griffith Show,” he said.
Florida Marine held the christening, a triple-header, at the Riverside Hilton Hotel in New Orleans. The towboats—Christina Belcher, Mia Kelley and Sydnee Taylor—are numbers seven, eight and nine in a what was originally a 25-boat order from Eastern Shipbuilding Group. Florida Marine recently ordered five more….
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.)
