Ingram Barge Lines News

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood today announced the appointment of 29 members to the new Marine Transportation System National Advisory Council (MTSNAC), established to advise the Department on matters relating to marine transportation. “Shifting some of our freight from the highways to open inland waterways is a fuel-efficient, cost-effective way to move goods and reduce roadway congestion,” said Secretary LaHood. The Department will task the MTSNAC with developing recommendations on establishing new marine highway services and port infrastructure development, among other issues. “The experience brought to bear by this diverse panel is impressive,” said Maritime Administrator David Matsuda. “These maritime experts have a lot to contribute.

Robert King, based in Paducah Kentucky, is the manager of Ingram Support Service a wholly owned subsidiary of Ingram Barge Lines charged with managing 20 vessels that operate on the Ohio, Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. These are among the smaller vessels in Ingram’s 137-vessel fleet and so operate without engineers. King’s job is to minimize down time and maximize efficient operational hours. He expects to do just that for 87x30-foot Charles M. Everhart now that he has pulled a pair of 900 HP two-cycle engines and replaced them with a pair of Cummins KTA38 1000 HP @ 1800 RPM main engines. The new engines are equipped with the Cummins Eliminator and Centinel options.

Robert King, based in Paducah Kentucky, is the manager of Ingram Support Service a wholly owned subsidiary of Ingram Barge Lines charged with managing 20 vessels that operate on the Ohio, Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. These are among the smaller vessels in Ingram's 137-vessel fleet and so operate without engineers. King's job is to minimize down time and maximize efficient operational hours. He expects to do just that for 87x30-ft. Charles M. Everhart now that he has pulled a pair of 900 hp two-cycle engines and replaced them with a pair of Cummins KTA38 1000 hp @ 1800 rpm main engines. The new engines are equipped with the Cummins Eliminator and Centinel options.

Bollinger Shipyard's Quick Repair facility on the Harvey Canal in New Orleans is unique among workboat repair shipyards. It has capabilities well beyond the normal vessel dry-docking and repair. Not only is the work done there, but also most of the needed underwater parts can be fabricated or repaired there. The shipyard has a machine shop to fabricate and repair shafts; an electrical shop where motors and generators can be rewound and load tested plus a complete propeller overhaul facility with a large inventory of propellers on hand. Mighty valuable capabilities if you are a towboat owner and one of your vessels just hit "something" and the resulting vibration tells your crew the vessel needs service now. Bollinger Quick Repair's (BQR) strategic location, just 1,100 ft.

Ingram Barge Lines operates one of the largest towboat fleets on the U.S. inland waters, with 70 towboats ranging from 600 to 9,200 hp and over 1,800 barges. The company operates on the Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, Kanawha, Illinois and the Monongahela Rivers as well as the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. Under the direction of David O'Neill, Assistant Vice-President of operations based in Paducah Kentucky, the firm is undertaking a repower and engine standardization program in the 16 vessels of their Ingram Support Services division. These boats, in the 600 to 1,800 hp range, are employed primarily in demanding short haul and fleeting operations. Currently powered with four different makes of engines, the company is working to standardize to Cummins marine engines.

U.S. Midwestern grain shippers were getting ready to move barges into the upper Mississippi River on Tuesday but estimated it could be two to three weeks before trapped barges along the river make it to the Gulf. Weekend rains that dropped 3 to 6 inches of rain over a six-county area in northern Missouri and southern Iowa, coupled with swollen river conditions in the upper Mississippi, resulted in two more Mississippi lock closures this week. Lock 24 at Clarksville, Missouri, and lock 25 at Winfield, Missouri, were shut down to traffic on Monday. Both locks are north of the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. These new closures, along with the U.S.