Weekly News Summary For July 6-12, 2009:
Washington, D.C.—The barge and towing industry plans to be ready by the end of the year with a new plan to fund construction and maintenance of locks and dams on the nation’s inland waterways system.
Interviewed after a press briefing on waterway revenue issues June 24 in Washington, D.C., Cornel J. Martin, president and chief executive officer of Waterways Council Inc., said that his organization is working with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Inland Waterways Users Board “to develop a long-term funding mechanism that’s going to provide a revenue stream to upgrade the system for the long haul.
“So we’re looking to developing a 20-year capital development plan that’s going to look at the long-term needs of the entire inland waterway system, figure out how much it’s going to cost, and figure out a way to pay for it over the long term.”
Indicating that the current fuel tax may be in the mix of possible options the industry is considering, Martin said consideration could be given to something “other than the fuel tax, maybe in addition to; we’re not there yet.”
The WCI executive said industry and government negotiators would be looking at “I’m sure, a multitude of options, including infrastructure needs, bonding, and fuel tax. We will look at all the options and all the proposals that might come up. So we’re not there yet. That’s part of the program that’s commonly referred to as the White Paper process that we’re working on with the Corps today.”…
The Owensboro (Ky.) Messenger-Inquirer reported June 28 that the city’s mayor, Ron Payne, has appointed an exploratory committee to determine the fate of the Owensboro Riverport. On the table is the possibility that the port could be sold to a private company. At least two companies have reportedly approached the city.
The committee is called the Advisory Committee on the Privatization of the Owensboro Riverport Authority. It includes influential local businesspeople, including a steel company executive who was a member of the first riverport board in 1966 and a former Owensboro city manager. The committee’s decision isn’t expected until about November, according to Ed Riney, the port authority’s chief executive officer.
Previous administrations had talked of the idea of selling the port, but had never gone as far as appointing a committee. In April 2008, the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. explored extending the port’s foreign trade zone and port of entry status to the airport.
The decision to create the committee caught port officials “off guard,” according to a WFIE.COM story on June 1. Ed Riney, president and chief executive officer of the Riverport Authority, told WFIE that the proposal “came out of left field.”…
TEPPCO Partners LP and Enterprise Products Partners LP announced June 29 that the firms would merge to form the largest publicly traded energy partnership, with an enterprise value of more than $26 billion. The combined partnership will retain the name Enterprise Products Partners LP.
Under terms of the deal, TEPPCO shareholders will receive about $3.3 billion worth of Enterprise Products Partners stock. In May of this year, TEPPCO rejected an earlier offer from Enterprise that would have been worth about $2.8 billion. TEPPCO will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Enterprise Products Partners.
TEPPCO, Texas Eastern Products Pipeline Company, owns and operates an extensive network of assets, including 12,500 miles of pipelines, storage capacity for 41 million barrels of refined and crude oil, and a marine transportation business that moves refined petroleum products, crude oil and lube products on the inland and intracoastal waterway systems and the Gulf of Mexico.
TEPPCO has been expanding its presence on the inland waterways over the last year and a half. In February of 2008, the firm bought Cenac Towing Company, including 42 towboats and 89 barges. Just four weeks later, the firm announced it had acquired Horizon Maritime LLC, including seven boats and 17 barges, plus two more boats under construction….
The Watchdog is now on station in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW).
“Watchdog” is the call sign for the traffic control vessel boat that is now posted at the Lake Borgne Sector Gate construction site on the GIWW just east of the Michoud Slip in eastern New Orleans.
In a GICA Nav Alert e-mail, Raymond Butler emphasized that, “all towing vessels must check in with ‘Watchdog’ on VHF Channel 16 prior to reaching the Paris Road Bridge when eastbound and prior to reaching the GIWW Mile 20 EHL when westbound.”
GICA is the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association and Butler is executive director.
“Compliance with instructions from ‘Watchdog’ is required for all vessels,” Butler said. “Extreme caution is in order at all times when transiting this area due to numerous small construction tenders, crewboats, and shift boats that will be moving equipment and personnel in the area.”…
Two huge pieces of refinery equipment mounted on barges pushed by Lewis & Clark Marine towboats passed through St. Louis June 29. They are components of an expansion project underway at ConocoPhillips’ Wood River (Ill.) Refinery.
More specifically, explained Keesha Dhaene, the company’s community affairs coordinator, one was a 174- by 23- by 32-foot fractionator that weighs 775,400 pounds. The other was a crude column that measures 170 by 22 by 20 feet and weighs 700,000 pounds.
The big loads were brought to St. Louis from New Orleans by Canal Barge Company. Lewis & Clark moved them to the Phoenix Terminal at Mile 195, where they were offloaded.
The latest shipment is but one of a variety of about 220 that will be barged to Phoenix for use in the expansion project, which is scheduled to be completed in March 2010, Dhaene said. The shipments started in May, and they originate from Amelia and Belle Chasse, La., and Island Park, Corpus Christi and Houston, Texas. During August alone, the company expects to receive about 70 barge shipments….
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