Weekly News Summary For July 12-18, 2010:
Following the news maxim, “If it bleeds, it leads,” most media coverage of the shoreside economic impacts of the Deepwater Horizon spill has focused on lost tourism, empty restaurants and hotels, and distressed fishermen. News that tar balls had been spotted in Lake Pontchartrain made headlines last week.
But the economic impact of the Deepwater Horizon spill on navigation at the ports of New Orleans and Mobile, and on the inland waterways, has been minimal so far—thanks at least in part to quick industry reactions and preventive measures.
The Port of Mobile, the nation’s ninth largest, has been aggressive in getting out the message that the spill is not affecting cargo operations. A stream of statements since the spill’s earliest days has stressed that it’s business as usual at the port. The latest message on July 2 said, “The Port of Mobile is open and handling deep draft commercial traffic without incident or delay.”
Jimmy Lyons, director and chief executive officer of the Alabama State Port Authority, stressed, “To date, NO inbound cargo ships at the Port of Mobile have arrived with oil on [their] hulls.” Lyons said only six vessels have requested decontamination operations, and they were all directly involved with the cleanup efforts at the site of the Deepwater Horizon spill.
Lyons has been especially active in ensuring that port commerce remains as unaffected as possible. On June 1, he said, “Our tourism and fisheries industries are already hurting from this disaster, and we do not need to compound these problems by adversely impacting our manufacturing and transportation industries that heavily rely on trade through the seaport. We will keep our port open to commerce.” …
The U.S. attorney in New Orleans filed charges against DRD Towing, the company that crewed the towboat Mel Oliver, which was involved in the massive oil spill in the summer of 2008 after it steered its barge into the path of a downbound ship.
The collision in the Mississippi River just above the Crescent City Connection bridges in New Orleans caused the Coast Guard to shut down the river several days while cleaning up the resulting oil spill that stretched for 100 miles.
Jim Letten, the U.S. attorney, charged the now-defunct DRD Towing with violating the Ports and Waterways Safety Act and the Clean Water Act, by “creating hazardous conditions” when it allowed the towboat to operate without proper crew licensing and by paying operators to run the boat for 24 hours without relief, knowing that the Coast Guard regards vessels operating with “overfatigued mariners” hazardous.
Randall Dantin, co-owner of DRD Towing, was also charged with obstruction of justice. Authorities allege Dantin deleted electronic payroll sheets from a company computer knowing it would impede the Coast Guard investigative hearings, the Times-Picayune newspaper reported.
Dantin refused to testify at Coast Guard hearings looking into the cause of the accident….
A planned Chinese investment in a steel plant in Amory, Miss., that would barge in raw materials has been threatened by Congressional scrutiny, including a call for U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to investigate the deal on national security grounds.
Anshan Iron & Steel Group, a unit of China’s fourth-largest steelmaker, agreed to partner with American firm Steel Development Company in May to invest in four rebar plants and one silicon steel plant in Amory. The deal would be the first time a Chinese firm has invested in an American-based plant. A spokesperson told The Waterways Journal that if the deal happens, barges would most likely be used to ship in raw materials.
Formed in 2008, privately held Steel Development Company is led by John Correnti, a 30-year steel industry veteran and former chief executive officer of steelmakers SeverCorr LLC and Nucor Corporation.
Over the past 30 years, Nucor has revitalized a sector of the U.S. steel industry by building small “mini-mills” using electric arc furnaces, which melt scrap steel, instead of the more expensive traditional blast furnaces that make steel from iron ore. Analysts say one reason the Chinese are interested in the Amory deal is to become more proficient in arc milling. Most of China’s steel mills use traditional blast furnaces….
The latest in a series of reports and studies calling for increased investment in America’s aging transportation infrastructure was released July 8 by the American Association of State Highway Transportation officials (AASHTO).
Entitled Unlocking Freight, the report’s release was highlighted in joint press conferences in Des Moines, Iowa; Memphis, Tenn.; and Harrisburg, Pa. The report calls on the U.S. Department of Transportation to create a National Multimodal Strategic Freight Plan, and asks states to create multi-state freight corridor planning organizations.
The report highlights 30 projects its authors consider critical, some of which have been highlighted in previous reports. Most are rail and road projects, but some intermodal projects with port components are listed, including new container docks at the port of Lewiston, Idaho. It also calls on funds to be released from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund for dredging of harbors and ports to meet the needs of the new Panamax vessels that are expected to be visiting Gulf and East Coast ports following the opening of the expanded Panama Canal in 2014.
At the Des Moines news conference, which coincided with the annual meeting of the Mississippi Valley Conference of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Iowa Department of Transportation Director Nancy Richardson said, “The Port of Duluth-Superior is an example of hundreds of freight-related projects in desperate need of greater investment. It’s one of the largest inland seaports in the world, bringing in iron ore and coal docks, grain elevators and specialized cargo facilities lining the industrial waterfronts of Duluth, Minn., and Superior, Wis. Yet the infrastructure is currently deficient in terms of capacity, physical condition, and safety.”…
Argosy Barge Lines LLC, Houston, Texas, was formed in 2008 to transport oversized cargo along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and inland rivers. On June 29 the company made its first major investment in equipment with the delivery of a heavy-duty deck barge built by Trinity Marine Products in Madisonville, La.
Madelaine Griswold christened the barge and then grease burned as the heavy barge slowly made its way to the Tchefuncte River.
The barge, Jean-M 2501, is 250 by 54 by 12 feet and designed to transport large, overdimensional cargo, said Greg Beers, president and principal naval architect of Bristol Harbor Group, the owner’s representative on the project.
“She has a 3/4-inch-thick deck and substantial longitudinal stiffeners, which allow her to carry not only a 3,000-pounds-per-square-foot deck load, but to do so anywhere along her length,” he said. “The barge has a very stiff hull girder and a heavily built box stern, specifically designed for large and heavy roll-on, roll-off operations. Her internal scantlings were designed specifically for water-ballasted operations.
“Every effort was made to make the barge friendly to the riggers that will load these large cargoes on her. For instance, in addition to D-rings that are being welded on the deck, above a longitudinal stiffener (i.e. backed up), the manholes down the center of the barge were designed to be perfectly flush with the main deck so as not to provide the riggers with any obstructions.”…
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.)
