U.S. Gulf: Port Allen Lock continued to experience delays last week, with transit queues noted at four hours or more. Some tied the waits to the recent devastating Louisiana floods, citing a persistent 10.9-foot differential between the lock’s river and canal gauges. Additionally, the Charenton, East Calumet, and West Calumet floodgates reported high water-related navigation closures.
Machinery upgrades and repairs were in progress at Industrial Lock last week. The Corps is now targeting a Nov. 27 completion date, sources said, two days ahead of the previous Nov. 29 estimate.
Dredging continued at Baptiste Collette Bayou last week, extending beyond earlier estimates that the work would conclude by Sept. 5. Navigable width in the channel has been reduced to 75 feet as a result, delaying transits and necessitating additional logistical acrobatics for vessels with doublewide tows. Vessels were requested to contact the dredge prior to passage to confirm compliance.
The Houston Ship Channel was open to traffic last week after a Sept. 6 diesel fire shuttered navigation, according to a Coast Guard press release. An estimated 90,000 gallons of diesel fuel were spilled in the event, most of which was consumed in the fire.
Daytime navigation remained unavailable at the West Canal’s Galveston Railroad Bridge. Dredging and debris removal work at Miles 357-358 is slated to follow a 12-days on, two-days off schedule through January 2017, with work slated to run 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Shippers described normal transit flows during overnight and nonworking hours.
Lower Mississippi River: The Corps pushed the start of dike work in the Lake Providence area to Sept. 26 from the original Sept. 15 date. Delays are anticipated through the project’s late-January 2017 end date. Shippers warned that work could be extended based on stoppages stemming from unsafe river levels.
Upper Mississippi River: Locks 14 and 15 remained closed Sept. 14. An ammonia barge with 2,400 st of product grounded near Campbell’s Island, Mile 491, on Sept. 3. It was finally freed Sept. 13. (See Ammonia, U.S. Gulf/Tampa.)
Lock 15 was unavailable to navigation between 5:00 a.m., Sept. 14, and 5:00 a.m., Sept 15, closing the river. The Corps’ annual rock pinnacle removal project in the Thebes, Ill., area remains primed for a restart, shippers said. Work is expected to begin when levels at Cape Girardeau hit the 15-foot mark. Daylight-hour transit delays are anticipated seven days per week once the project gets underway. The Cape Girardeau gauge read 25.98 feet on Sept. 15.
Illinois River: Minor flooding continued on the Lower Illinois Waterway, but shippers noted improved conditions on the river’s upper and middle sections. Barge pickup and transit delays were predicted.
The Havana gauge was clocked at 15.02 feet and falling slowly on Sept. 15, above the area’s 14-foot flood stage. Forecasts called for levels to sink below flood stage on Sept. 19-20. Beardstown depths were 14.51 feet and falling, also higher than the 14-foot flood stage.
Ohio River: Delays persisted at Lock 52 on the Ohio River, where a number of stuck wickets have complicated main chamber navigation and rendered the auxiliary chamber inoperable. Regular locking was expected to commence late on Sept. 14, and shippers reported delays of approximately 12 hours on Sept. 15 as transit began to normalize.
Olmsted Lock traffic was routed through the riverside chamber. Tows were limited to 15 barges per pass, with no hip barges permitted. Lock 53 wickets were down for the week, allowing vessels to transit the pass without locking. Shippers quoted an average of five boats queued, with waits up to three hours. Three-hour delays were also reported at the Markland and McAlpine Locks.
A 16-hour daily main chamber shutdown is underway at Montgomery Lock and scheduled through Nov. 17, pushing delays to an average 2-4 hours, sources said. The main unit is closed 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. daily, forcing daylight travel through the auxiliary chamber instead. Main chamber transit remains available during overnight hours subject to an 80-foot width restriction. The chamber is also scheduled to temporarily reopen Sept. 17-18, Oct. 1-2, Oct. 15-16, and Oct. 29-30 to alleviate queuing.
Repairs caused intermittent delays at Willow Island Lock last week, and work on both chambers is scheduled through Sept. 30. The R.C. Byrd auxiliary chamber will close for repairs and maintenance Oct. 3 through Dec. 9.
The Tennessee River’s Kentucky Lock is slated to see closures on Oct. 4-13. Upstream guide wall repairs will force intermittent shutdowns on Oct. 4-9, after which a complete closure is planned through Oct. 13. The Corps has offered Barkley Canal and Barkley Lake as an alternative route.
Shipping remained stalled on the Allegheny River due to a hydraulic failure at Lock 6, shippers noted. No estimated completion date had been offered as of Sept. 14.
Delays were reported at the Liberty Street Bridge on the Monongahela River. Tow lengths were limited to 800 feet, with widths capped at 105 feet. Vessels were asked to transit at their “slowest safe speed.” The Braddock Lock and Dam river chamber remained closed to transit due to equipment failure, with oats passing via the land chamber instead.
Arkansas River: Navigation resumed at Webbers Falls Lock on Sept. 11, restoring service to Inola, Catoosa, and Muskogee, Okla. The lock had been shut since Aug. 22.