Weekly News Summary For July 16-22, 2007:
Texas lawmakers recently closed a loophole in the state’s laws that maritime interests said threatened the future of that industry in the state.
The Texas Legislature passed House Bill 1602, which ended a “venue exemption” that allowed personal-injury plaintiffs to sue dredging companies virtually in the county of their choice.
The new legislation “effectively closed a loophole in Texas law that had resulted in a veritable “explosion” of lawsuits against dredging companies being filed in three South Texas counties,” said Raymond Butler, executive director of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association. “The result of the lawsuits was an astronomical increase in insurance premiums and judgments being paid by dredging companies.
“The frightening part of this activity was the very real possibility that Texas would have no companies to turn to for dredging of the Intracoastal Waterway or its deep-draft channels,” Butler said….
City and county government officials and civic leaders gathered at the Greater Paducah Economic Development Council’s headquarters July 5 to announce pending construction of a new $1.5 million vessel operations center for Hunter Marine Transport Inc. The Nashville, Tenn.-based barge and towboat operator will build a new 7,000-square-foot office and training center and a 10,000-square-foot warehouse and shop complex at a five-acre site on the city’s south side. The area is already home to several new or recently enlarged river transportation-oriented facilities.
Following welcoming remarks from Paducah Mayor Bill Paxton and McCracken County Judge-Executive Van Newberry, company officials unveiled a rendering from Nashville architect Lon F. Raby, depicting the new complex that will replace a temporary office at a nearby shipyard and repair facility. The new facility is expected to be completed in 2008.
Mayor Paxton described Hunter Marine, founded in 1976, as “a vibrant and growing company.…The decision by Ron Hunter to put his new operations center in Paducah is a reminder of the importance of the marine industry to Paducah and the advantages we offer, due to our central location.”
Kirby Corporation announced July 9 that its wholly owned subsidiary, Marine Systems Inc., has agreed to purchase substantially all of the assets of Saunders Engine & Equipment Company Inc., a privately held Gulf Coast high-speed diesel engine services provider, for approximately $13.2 million in cash, subject to post-closing inventory and other adjustments.
The purchase is expected to close on or before July 20.
Saunders, established in 1959 and headquartered in Mobile, Ala., operates factory-authorized full-service marine dealerships for Cummins and Detroit Diesel engines, and serves as an authorized marine dealer for Caterpillar engines in Alabama. Saunders’ principal customers are Gulf Coast inland waterway carriers and general marine companies. For the 2006 year, Saunders generated revenues of approximately $18 million….
Nobody can accuse Mike Rushing of jumping into something at the spur of the moment. This was obvious by the fact that it took 14 years to schedule a formal dedication of the towboat renamed in honor of his wife following its purchase in 1992.
Family, friends and business associates were invited to a formal dedication ceremony at Paducah May 22 as MEMCO Barge Line and AEP River Operations officials honored Donna Rushing with a reception at the Carson Four Rivers Performing Arts Center. Prior to the dedication, the boat was open for tours while tied off nearby at the city’s public landing along the Ohio River at the foot of Owen’s Island.
The attractive 6,140 hp. vessel was named in her honor in 1993 after MEMCO purchased it the previous year. The twin-screw towboat was built by Dravo in 1975 as the F.P. Thomas for Thomas Marine Company, Butler, Pa. After only two years, it was sold to Valley Towing Service, Memphis, Tenn., for whom it operated for 10 years before being sold again to Cho-Me Towing Inc., which renamed it Jos. Chotin. Cho-Me sold it to MEMCO in 1982.
Propulsion power comes from a pair of General Motors 16-645E7B diesels, rated at 3,070 hp. each….
Luhr Brothers’ dredge Bill Holman recently completed a channel widening and realignment project above Ohio River Locks and Dam 53 and moved to Locks and Dam 52 for a quick assignment to remove a hump below the entrance to the 600-foot lock chamber.
The work between Grand Chain Reach at Ohio River Mile 960 and Sharp’s Bar, near Poat’s Creek at Mile 958, was not an unexpected assignment because the channel fills in and shifts each year as the river settles in on its traditional summer pool elevations. Luhr Bros. president Michael A. Luhr told the WJ that the Sharp’s Bar undertaking was more difficult than most lower Ohio River projects, because the dredge encountered rock formations in the river bed, which were not kind to the dredge’s cutterhead.
The work below Lock 52, however was not an annual routine assignment, he said. Tows had been bumping as they entered or departed the small lock chamber and it was decided to remove the offending hump by relocating the sand and silt about 350 feet upriver where it was deposited beneath the landside guidewall of the small lock chamber.
Interim lockmaster Jeff Kelly said the dredge spoil was used in an attempt to fill a scour hole developing beneath the 79-year-old lock wall. The lock chamber was closed to traffic for only a few hours, on July 5 while the dredge worked in the forebay….
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