Weekly News Summary For August 7-13, 2006:
Low Water Continues On Upper Mississippi
Low water conditions remain on the Upper Mississippi River and the Coast Guard Sector Upper Mississippi River and Sector Ohio Valley, in cooperation with the Corps and the River Industry Action Committee (RIAC), issued a safety advisory between Mile 0.0 and 185.
The St. Louis gauge readings are expected to remain in the negative range. As of August 3, the gauge was at -2.19 feet, according to the National Weather Service advanced hydrologic prediction service. That reading was expected to remain relatively constant over the next few days.
The National Weather Service also indicated that the Mississippi River gauge in St. Louis was predicted to rise gradually from -2 to -1 on or around August 7 and rise to 0.0 on or around August 11. Scattered thunderstorms were predicted throughout the Midwest region, although it is too early to tell if those predicted thunderstorms would provide a soaking rain the region needs.
“We are definitely getting down near the records,” said Alan Dooley, spokesman for the St. Louis Engineer District. “We had a meeting with RIAC and the Coast Guard to talk about the situation. The draft and positioning of barges is very important.”
St. Louis Engineer District dredge Potter has been working throughout the district as the area has seen low rainfall throughout the spring and summer months. Dooley said the Corps has been holding water at Mel Price Locks and Dam in case it’s needed in the coming days.
Meetings to begin the de-authorization of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MR-GO) canal in eastern New Orleans are being conducted by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), New Orleans District.
The Corps held the first meeting with stakeholders July 27 to receive input on a comprehensive plan to de-authorize deep draft navigation.
“Stakeholders were introduced to the plan and provided an opportunity for interactive planning,” said a Corps press release. “The goal of the meeting was to establish a common understanding of the study authority and proved an avenue for stakeholders to express their opinions and expectations.”
After a Coast Guard Sector St. Louis safety bulletin was distributed to industry indicating draft restrictions on the Missouri River, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon got involved.
Nixon staff member William Bryan, deputy chief counsel for the attorney general’s agriculture and environment division, sent a letter to Northwestern Engineer Division Commander Brig. Gen. Gregg Martin on July 26 outlining several concerns, including the lack of an eight-foot channel to provide minimum service to navigation, as stated in the new master manual. Also, Nixon asked for the Corps’ plans to make the river safe for commercial navigation from St. Louis to Sioux City through the end of the season.
“During the litigation over how the Missouri River is managed, the Corps of Engineers gave assurances that it could manage the lower part of the river to maintain a minimum eight-foot deep channel, except under the most extreme drought conditions — which we are not under,” Nixon said in a release. “The Corps has failed utterly on those promises, and Missouri’s interests are suffering as a result.”
Maryland Marine Inc., the Houston-based subsidiary of Higman Marine, christened its newest towboat, the mv. Freeport, July 12. Constructed for Maryland by Hope Services Inc. in Dulac, La., the Freeport becomes the 35th boat in the combined Higman/Maryland fleet and the 20th Maryland boat built by Hope Services since 1996.
Maryland Marine named the vessel after Freeport, Texas, where the vessel will transit often. The mv. Freeport will push two new 30,000-barrel hot-oil barges recently constructed for Maryland by Trinity Industries at its Madisonville, La., yard, for Conoco Phillips. The new barges measure 50 by 325 feet in order to transit a restrictive bridge en route to Maryland’s customer at Sweeny, Texas.
The christening ceremonies and celebration were held at Lakewood Yacht Club. Kara Samples christened the mv. Freeport for Maryland Marine, and the Rev. Jim W. Wilkinson of the Seamen’s Church Institute officiated the ceremony. Kara is the wife of Jeff Samples, executive vice president of International Bank of Commerce, Maryland’s lead financial institution.
The mv. Freeport continues the same design as the mv. Rockfish delivered to Maryland by Hope earlier this year. Measuring 72 by 30 feet with a draft of 10 feet, it is powered by a pair of Cummins KTA38-MO diesel engines that were supplied by Cummins Mid-South Inc., Kenner, La. They are rated at 1,800 hp.
With imported steel shipments strong and the return of cruise ships expected soon, the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans approved a budget of $39.6 million in operating revenues at its July 27 monthly meeting.
“The port’s fiscal health is good; it’s strong,” said Conrad H. Appel, III, the board’s vice chairman.
“We anticipate that the board will have a healthy cushion over required debt covenants of $8.1 million for FY07,” said Jim Ruckert, the board’s chief financial officer.
The port derives revenues from fees on cargo and cruise ships that use port facilities, and from rent from port tenants. With the storm damage and business interruption following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the port agreed to defer rent payments for some affected tenants.
At the meeting, the board agreed to allow one of its tenants, New Orleans Cold Storage, to defer lease payments on its facility for the months of September 2005 through March 2006. The deferred months will be added back at the end of the lease term. If New Orleans Cold Storage renews its lease, the months will be added to the end of the renewed lease.
Through attrition, the port scaled back the number of employees from 339 to 292 as it worked to reduce its operating expenses following the storms.
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