Weekly News Summary For October 24-30, 2005:
Work has started on a second floodgate for the lower end of Bayou Lafourche in Louisiana which, working with the existing gate, will create a lock for vessels to transit during times of high water.
Several years ago, as part of the levee system that encircled the South Lafourche region, floodgates were installed on Bayou Lafourche just south of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway at Larose (to the north) and below the town of Golden Meadow (to the south).
Bayou Lafourche is homeport for many of the shrimp and oyster boats that ply the rich estuary areas to the south and out into the Gulf of Mexico. Offshore giant Edison Chouest has its offices there in Galliano, as do many other boat companies, including Crosby Tugs and Huey Cheramie Tugs, and Montco, a big player in the lift boat business.
When high tides and southerly winds back water into the area, the floodgates, particularly the gate south of Golden Meadow, have to be closed to prevent water from rising over Louisiana Hwy. 1.
Closing the gate left many boats without access to their home docks and vulnerable to the ravages of storms. Inland barge delivery of fuel and supplies to Port Fourchon, a major staging area for the offshore oil industry, was also blocked….
An assumption by a city commissioner and an apparent uninformed decision by a park manager (acting in place of the city manager) caused several moments of confusion and a confrontation between several pleasure boaters and the captain of a towboat that was docked for public tours during Paducah’s annual Barbecue on the River festival last month.
A couple hours after the boat was opened for public tours, several “go-fast” high performance boats arrived at the city front where their operators attempted to moor their vessels to or along the landing barge to which the Lillie Gail had been secured. TVT officials immediately informed the 30 or more boaters that they would not be allowed to tie up to the small flat deck barge, which normally serves as a temporary courtesy dock for use by boaters launching or retrieving their craft from the public launching ramp.
Although there are signs on the dock limiting tie-ups to 15 minutes, city officials had given permission to TVT to utilize the barge for the day’s activities….
When it comes to moving two hopper barges that landed in an unsuspecting Gulfport, Miss., neighborhood thanks to Hurricane Katrina, Peggy Woodward, project manager for Merrill Marine, St. Louis, said there was no shortage of bidding companies wanting to try their hands at the removal.
The barges that were relocated through Merrill Marine were two Memco barges, including one that was loaded with mineral sand.
“We solicited and received bids from numerous contractors,” she said. “It was decided by the owners to go with the most feasible plan. We had received bids from a house moving company and another company that wanted to place an inflatable balloon system under the barges.”
The contractor that did complete the project was R.J. Corman, located in Mississippi. Woodward said small cranes were used in the project in which wires were connected from the crane to inside the barges….
After three years of self-imposed retirement, Don Lalande had to get back into marine towing because he missed the people and the business. To re-enter, he decided to think outside of the box.
With some help from a German design firm and William Hidalgo of Halimar Shipyard LLC, Lalande designed a revolutionary new towboat and hopper barge combination that is nearing completion in Morgan City, La.
Essentially, the design is a pushboat with two barges. The entire unit will be wired together in a semi-permanent arrangement.
The lead barge is 275 by 54 by 12 feet and is squared off at the deck level. But under the water, it has a model bow. In the forward void sits a VET four-channel bow thruster driven by a C-15 Caterpillar engine developing 540 continuous hp. The engine will run while underway, providing instant steering from the bow.
Lalande said a rotating gate directs flow forward, aft or to either side. The design allows the bow thruster to operate efficiently, even at speed, which he said should be considerably faster than a normal tow….
The effects of hurricane Katrina are still being felt throughout the inland river system, six weeks after the storm crashed ashore on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Damage caused by the storm is affecting shipping patterns at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa, port officials said last week.
“September shipping tonnage at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa declined from August levels as a result of the shipping disruption caused by hurricane Katrina,” said Jerry Goodwin, chairman of the City of Tulsa-Rogers County Port Authority. “The damage to the Port of New Orleans, where most of the country’s grain passes into international markets, has formed a bottleneck.”
As many as 50 million bushels of wheat, corn and soybeans, which are currently in their harvest season, are coming down the Mississippi River for overseas shipment. The delays in offloading and damage to storage facilities are making it necessary to find alternative storage facilities to temporarily hold the grain and allow empty barges to again go north to be reloaded. With much of the hard red winter wheat still stored in elevators in the Central States area—which is served by the Tulsa Port of Catoosa—and not being transferred to New Orleans facilities, local producers and elevators are seeking storage for fall crops such as soybeans and milo….
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