Weekly News Summary for December 18-24, 2006:
A merger vote and the recently announced failure to pass the Water Resources Development Act dominated discussion at the Midwest Area River Coalition 2000’s 15th—and possibly last—annual meeting December 7–8 in St. Louis.
The MARC 2000 Board of Directors was scheduled to vote December 15 on a proposal to merge with the Waterways Council Inc. (after the WJ deadline).
“If it happens, I think it’s a foregone conclusion that both organizations will benefit greatly from it,” said MARC 2000 President Paul Rohde. “MARC 2000 will increase its presence in Washington and the Waterways Council picks up huge grassroots support.”
Rohde said the merger would preserve the organization’s strengths while addressing its challenges.
A handout during the meeting listed MARC 2000’s strengths, including brand recognition, grassroots activities, diversity, experience, and inclusion of agriculture and labor. Its challenges are listed as a lack of a presence in Washington, D.C., funding sustainability and lack of national presence.
Members discussed the issue during a December 8 morning session.
“We want our members to be educated about this and to have a say in it,” Rohde said….
Jeffboat production and maintenance employees voted to keep the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 89 as its union by a 649 to 190 margin. The decertification vote was prompted when 30 percent of the 900 eligible workers signed a petition calling for the vote at the Jeffersonville, Ind., shipyard.
Jeff Zuckerman, president of Teamsters Local 89, said he was pleased with the 77 percent vote of approval, adding that he believes it will influence upcoming contract negotiations. The union’s five-year contract expires in April.
“I think it’s going to be huge,” Zuckerman said. “This was a company-sponsored campaign. The company told the folks they should be making $2 an hour more, they gave them gifts – jackets and sweatshirts – and told them the company’s doing very well. We agree with them.”…
(Third part of a three-part series)
Users of the nation’s ports and inland waterways pay much of the cost of operations and maintenance (O&M), including maintenance dredging.
But while federal budgetary restraints on the Corps of Engineers prevent many waterways from being maintained at authorized or required depths, not all of the O&M revenue generated from user fees is spent each year.
In fact, while the actual figures are hard to obtain, critics say as much as 30 percent of the Harbor Maintenance Fee that is collected annually for O&M projects is not appropriated by Congress for dredging; instead it languishes in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF), the balance of which has grown to $3 billion.
Dr. Bory Steinberg, a former Corps of Engineers senior executive who now has a McLean, Va.-based consulting firm, said government accountants routinely report the accumulated HMTF balances in the federal budget schedule.
Dr. Steinberg is one of the few Corps executives who has held division chief positions in three areas: project management, policy and programs (budget).
While the maintenance tax was designed specifically to fund O&M projects such as maintenance dredging, the Corps also uses it to fund its own internal costs incurred in support of federally maintained navigation channels and harbors, he said. Not all of the HMTF funds go directly to dredging contracts. Some of the money pays for studies and a considerable amount is used to pay government employees’ salaries, he added….
In 2006, the inland towing industry worked very, very hard. Miles of steel was welded. Blockbuster deals were made. Millions of tons of grain, coal and petroleum products were shipped on the waterways as boats worked overtime.
And many people celebrated.
The celebrations took place at shipyards, barge terminals and city fronts throughout the river system. It seemed that, once the year got rolling, there was a christening, dedication or even a groundbreaking to attend just about every week. The year produced a bumper crop of new and refurbished vessels, and coming off its recent woes, the industry was all too happy to throw parties to honor its new and “new” boats.
American Commercial Lines held several ceremonies to rechristen vessels in its fleet, part of a major refurbishment program. The company, which spent $16 million on its equipment in 2004 and $35 million in 2005, planned to invest $80 million this year, said Mark Holden, president and chief executive officer, at the renaming ceremony for the mv. Norb Whitlock in Louisville late in March….
Happy Holidays From The Waterways Journal!
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