Weekly News Summary for December 12-18, 2005:
The owners of a barge management firm, Heartland Transportation LLC, Columbia, Ill., have purchased a shipyard on the Monongahela River that has been in bankruptcy since December 2004.
Brian Mueller of Columbia, and Joe Rose of Scottsdale, Ariz., bought HBC Barge LLC last month.
“The timing was right,” Mueller said. “Other shipyards are basically booked up. The demand is definitely
there.”
The new company is named Brownsville Marine Products. It is located at Brownsville, Pa., about 40 miles south of Pittsburgh at Mile 57. It is a site where there have been thousands of barges built and launched by predecessor companies—primarily Hillman Barge & Construction—dating back to 1939….
Railroad deregulation is largely a failure, as rail customers are hit with much higher rates if they are captive, said Dan S. Borne, president of the Louisiana Chemical Association.
Captive customers are those who are served by only one railroad and, thus, cannot negotiate prices from a competitive standpoint.
“Captive rail customers, including many chemical production facilities, currently have no ability to negotiate commercially viable arrangements with the railroads to which they are captive and upon which they are dependent for transportation,” Borne explained.
Railroads run on their own tracks, unlike trucks that run on public highways or maritime interests that use public waterways, he said.
The issue is so intense that Congress has been asked to intervene. The Louisiana congressional delegation has taken a lead in promoting legislation to “fix” the problem. Seven of the nine members have signed on as co-sponsors….
Canal Barge Company was expected to resume operations in the New Orleans area today, December 12. Their last post-Katrina temporary office—the Houston-San Felipe office—closed on December 9.
Ron Zornes, manager of organizational development, said Canal Barge had been operating out of three temporary offices located in Houston, Memphis and Baton Rouge. The Baton Rouge office, followed by the Memphis office, returned to New Orleans several weeks ago.
“All of our people were safe, and there were no injuries as a result of hurricanes Katrina or Rita,” he said. “Most people were able to move back to New Orleans. For those that weren’t as fortunate, our company was able to serve as a resource in assisting them in finding avenues to find temporary or permanent housing.”…
Murray C. Verret of Bayou Plaquemine, La., president of Verret Shipyard, died November 26 at Methodist Hospital in Houston from complications arising from diabetes. He was 72.
Verret turned down a scholarship to play football and baseball at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La., in order to pursue a career building towboats. He opened Verret Shipyard with his father, C. P. Verret, who was originally a blacksmith, in the mid 1950s. In 1958, they completed their first boat, a 40- by 16-foot, 400 hp. pushboat named Garret. He was involved in constructing 60 boats in total.
His son, Ted, who works at the shipyard with five other relatives, remembers his father’s attention to detail. Ted said when he was 12 years old, one of his jobs was to make sure all the screws in the pilothouse were turned the same way. It was the first thing the customer, Coastal Towing, noticed, he recalled: the slots were all pointed in the same direction….
Catlettsburg, Ky.—After a long period of near-pool and even low-water conditions throughout the Upper Ohio River area, heavy rains last week caused river levels to begin a slow but steady rise. Emsworth Dam, Mile 6 Ohio River, the first lock and dam facility below Pittsburgh, was running some 90 feet, and Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam at Mile 279 was at slightly over 100 feet of dam opening as the river crested.
There were no known incidents or accidents resulting from the recent moderate high water, although an incident at the Hannibal Locks, Mile 126, was reportedly attributed to mechanical failure. The mv. Vulcan was making a downbound approach to the locks when the boat was said to have lost both main engines. The tow of nine loaded barges drifted down into the upper forebay until the head landed on the right bank, allowing the stern of the tow to land against the outside upper guidewall. The mv. Quaker State and mv. James E. Pinson assisted in getting the Vulcan and tow tied off in the small chamber at Hannibal under the direction of AEP/Memco port captains Bruce Darst and John Byer. Following an investigation conducted by Mon River Towing—the owners of the Vulcan—and the U.S. Coast Guard, the vessel was released to resume operations….
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