Weekly News Summary For August 13-19, 2007:
While crews continue to search for victims and begin to remove debris from the August 1 collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minn., waterways industry companies located on the Mississippi River above the site are feeling the effects of being completely cut off from the rest of the industry.
River Services Inc. General Manager Jerry Christensen said the bridge accident is forcing him to lay off a half dozen workers.
“It’s virtually put us to a standstill. There’s not much else I can say. We’re down to a skeleton crew right now.”
The company was unable to get barges to its terminal.
“We can’t get barges up here. Half our crew is utilized for offloading barge freight. Without any of that work available, we don’t have much choice,” he added.
Christensen doesn’t know when the channel will reopen.
Upper River Services President Lee Nelson said his company is not running to the terminals north of the bridge. The main part of his business is conducted south of the bridge.
His company is unable to get to the terminals north of the collapse site.
“I know a number of people who are out of work and will remain so until the channel opens,” he said. “We can’t get through the area now because of the bridge, but there’s terminals above there that are shut down.”…
Welspun Group of Mumbai, India, plans to open a $100 million spiral pipe plant on a 750-acre site near the Port of Little Rock.
“I’m elated. It’ll really be a shot in the arm for the Little Rock economy,” said Paul Latture, executive director of the Port of Little Rock.
Little Rock’s central location and logistics were considered in the site selection. The company will use barges on the Arkansas River to transport materials to the plant to build the pipes, ranging from 18 to 60 inches in diameter, according to Latture.
Welspun Gujarat will receive 250,000 to 300,000 tons of material a year at the plant by barge along the river, increasing traffic at the port by about 50 percent. The company will move about 5,000 rail cars of steel pipe out of the port annually, increasing the port’s rail traffic by about a third, Latture said….
Grifco Transportation Ltd., a hot oil carrier based in Houston, will grow from a five-boat, 10-barge company to one with 10 boats and 22 barges by the end of the third quarter of next year, if everything goes as planned.
The company bought the mv. Creole Pride in late June from LeBeouf Bros. Towing Company Inc. as the first step. The 90- by 28-foot, 1,800 hp towboat was built in 1968 by Jeffboat. Grifco has renamed it Capt. George Brumley after the firm’s port captain.
Secondly, reported Clay Griffin, president, Grifco will close this month on the purchase of the 1,800 hp towboat General Washington owned by American General Transportation Inc. This boat was built by Orange Shipbuilding Company in 1980. Grifco will rename it Lillian Simone Griffin, after Griffin’s baby daughter….
Dixie Towing LLC, a new barge and towing company based in Pelham, Ala., has begun a regular run on the Alabama River. The firm is barging wood pellets from Selma Terminal, an Alabama State Docks facility at Mile 227.6, to the port of Mobile.
From there, the pellets are shipped to European Union electrical utilities as feedstock for power generation.
Dixie Towing bought the mv. Senator Sam in July from Lewis & Clark Marine Inc., a fleeting and harbor service in Granite City, Ill., and 10 new 195-foot hopper barges from Brownsville (Pa.) Marine Products. Additionally, the new company has 18 new 200-foot hopper barges on order from Brownsville Marine….
Buffalo Marine Service Inc. recently added two new towboats to its growing fleet of vessels. The Houston-based firm transports and provides bunker fuel to ships in southeast Texas and Louisiana. The company christened the boats July 17.
John Bludworth Shipyard at Corpus Christi, Texas, designed and built the identical twin-screw towboats. Both are 84 by 30 feet with an 8.5-foot draft.
They are powered by Cummins model KTA38-M1 engines, producing 1,000 hp. each at 1,800 rpm. Ship’s service comes from 75 kw. gensets, which, like the propulsion engines, were supplied by Cummins Southern Plains. Baumann Propeller provided the heavy duty 78- by 54-inch four-blade propellers, and Sewart Supply provided the Twin Disc MG540 gears, which operate at a 6.18:1 ratio.
Skipper Engineered Products division of Donovan Marine provided the full follow-up steering system.
The vessels have capacities for 38,000 gallons of fuel, 12,000 gallons of potable water and 500 gallons of lube oil. The hulls are constructed of 1/2-inch steel forward, 3/4-inch steel aft and 3/8-inch steel on the sides and decks….
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