Marine Link
Thursday, March 28, 2024
SUBSCRIBE

Calcasieu River News

14 Oct 2020

US Army Corps Clearing Debris from Louisiana Calcasieu Ship Channel After Delta

(Photo: Sydney Phoenix / U.S. Coast Guard)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said on Wednesday that it may be able to clear enough debris from Hurricane Delta to open the Calcasieu Ship Channel in Louisiana to vessels drafting up to 30 feet (9.14 m) with restrictions by the end of the week.The Army Corps, however, said it does not have a timeline for restoration to full deep draft (40 feet) traffic.Analysts said a fully laden liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker has a draft of around 40 feet.

09 Mar 2017

Louisiana Dredging Outlook

Photo: Magnolia Dredge

When maritime stakeholders think about dredging, they typically first conjure up visions of harbor deepening projects to accommodate those giant, post-Panamax boxships. Conversely, inland players hope for maintenance dredging in the heartland to keep the nation’s 31,000 cargo barges afloat as they head for the coast. But, there is much more to it than that. In Louisiana, dredging, of course, keeps Louisiana's waterways open for navigation, provides material for coastal restoration and helps industrial plants with drainage. The biggest projects are sponsored by the U.S.

06 Feb 2015

Live Oak Plans LNG Plant on Calcasieu Channel

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Martin Houston, Chairman of Live Oak LNG, has announced a new natural gas liquefaction and export project, up to a $2 billion investment, to be developed in the Calcasieu waterway. The $2 billion plant will be located on the Calcasieu Ship Channel and will create 100 direct jobs and 385 indirect jobs, the governor said. The permanent jobs will pay an average salary of about $75,000. About 1,000 construction workers will be hired. The mid-sized project is being designed for a plant capacity of up to five million tonnes per annum production and will include two 130,000 m3 storage tanks, and port facilities with a jetty for standard size liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.

27 Jan 2015

Tauber Oil Opens West Calcasieu Port Operations

Photo: West Calcasieu Port

Tauber Oil Company of Houston has become the West Calcasieu Port’s newest tenant. “Tauber Oil is a service-oriented wholesale energy marketing company with a reputation for reliable performance and untarnished character,” said Lynn Hohensee, port director. Tauber Oil becomes the sixth tenant of the port and is providing ultra-low-sulfur diesel to inland marine vessels. This service enhances vessel stops at the port that already provides the following marine services – barge fleeting, wet-barge cleaning and stripping, dry-barge cleaning, marine construction and diesel engine repair.

05 Dec 2014

Future LNG Exports to Impact Traffic, Tug Requirements

Workboat requirements will soar as heightened safety requirements for LNG transit demand tighter oversight. The Louisiana Gulf is gearing up to export liquefied natural gas from Sabine Pass and Lake Charles in the state’s southwest and Plaquemines Parish in the southeast. Over the next five years, as LNG import terminals begin exporting and new terminals are built, more tugs and channel pilots will be needed, industry experts said last month. A convoy system will be employed to handle outgoing and incoming tankers. Safety rules for the region’s waterways are also almost certain to be revised.

13 Jul 2014

FERC Accepts Kinder Morgan's Application

Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (LNGL) informs that the US   Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has accepted Kinder Morgan  Louisiana Pipeline LLC’s (KMLP) application pursuant to Section 7(c) of the Natural Gas Act for the Lake Charles  Expansion  Project,  establishing  1  August  2014  as the  deadline  by  which  interested parties must formally intervene and/or submit comments on the filing. Kinder Morgan, Inc. As detailed in the ASX release on 1 July 2014, KMLP’s application seeks FERC’s authorisation to construct and operate the Lake Charles Expansion Project, which would include the installation of  compression and other related facilities on the existing KMLP Pipeline…

26 Jun 2014

US Dredging Needs Growth as Army Corps’ Budget Shrinks

USACE photo: NY/NJ Harbor dredging action.

Spend dollars up on dredging, cubic yards moved down. Combined with a reduction in the USACE federal budget, the situation threatens a perfect storm for domestic requirements. U.S. dredging this decade, measured in cubic yards, is only half as active as it was in the early 1960s, with maintenance down slightly since then and new work off considerably, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or USACE. The nation’s spending on dredging in unadjusted dollars has swelled tenfold since the 1960’s, however.

12 Oct 2001

Repower: Bringing New Life To Older Vessels

The decision to repower a vessel is a multi-faceted one, and it can be safely assumed that no two decisions in this arena are exactly the same. Whether it's a crewboat that needs new power units to accommodate a new scope of operation; extending the life of an old, but otherwise stable boat; a rip and refit to replace under performing engines; or as a simple factor in the overall vessel conversion equation - the decision to install new engines on a vessel entails a significant financial investment for the owner. This year has seen a number of significant and unique marine repowerings. The vessels covered in this report are unique in that they range from a 149-passenger tour boat to an 846-ft. long military freighter powered by gas turbine engines.

19 Jun 2000

Sunken Drydock Blocks Shipping Channel

A Louisiana shipping channel used to supply crude oil to two big Gulf coast refineries has reopened to most ships but very large vessels may still not be able to get through, the U.S. Coast Guard reported on Monday. A sunken drydock has been blocking the shipping channel in the Calcasieu River, just north of the Intracoastal Waterway, since Tuesday, preventing deepdraft vessels, such as crude oil tankers, from passing through the area. The dry dock is still sunken, and not yet been salvaged," USCG said. "Very large vessels may not be able to bypass the sunken dry dock," it added. The U.S. government last week said it was releasing 500…

18 Aug 2000

News Briefs

Nichols Brothers Boatbuilders are building a highspeed catamaran ferry for San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation district. Designed by International Catamaran Designs (INCAT) of Sydney Australia, this will be Nichols Brothers 27th U.S. built highspeed catamaran. The vessel will be 139 ft. overall with a 34-ft. beam and draft of 9 ft. The individual hulls will have a beam of 9 ft.. A 37-knot speed is predicted with four 16-cylinder Cummins KTA50-M2 main engines delivering 1,600 hp each at 1800 rpm. Each IMO emission certified engine will drive a Hamilton model 571 water jet through a ZF Marine BU 460D marine gear. Electrical service will be provided by a 125 kW generator set powered by a Cummins Marine 6CT8.3DM engine.

18 Aug 2000

Sunken Drydock Removed From Ship Channel

The U.S. Coast Guard has removed the sunken drydock that has been blocking the Lake Charles, Louisiana, ship channel to large crude oil tankers, a spokesman said. "All sections of the sunken drydock have been removed from the Calcasieu River," the spokesman said. "The Army Corps of Engineers is conducting surveys to determine the need for additional dredging to return the channel to its project depth," he added. Until complete restoration of the channel, the Lake Charles pilots will be evaluating the navigable channel to determine beam and draft restrictions for safe passage, it added. The sunken dry dock had since mid-June stopped crude tankers getting to Conoco Inc.'s 243,000 bpd Lake Charles plant and Venezuelan-owned Citgo Corp.'s 310,000 bpd plant.

20 Jun 2007

Lake Charles Pilots Orders Boat

The Lake Charles Pilots, which operates on the Calcasieu ship channel in southwestern Louisiana, has ordered its third pilot boat from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation. Delivery is scheduled for February 2008. According to Lake Charles pilot, Capt. Mike Miller, the new boat order was prompted by plans for more than 400 LNG tankers traveling to terminals on the Calcasieu River by 2008. “With all of this new traffic on the river, we wanted a stable boarding boat with a deep-V hull that can operate continuously to the outermost sea buoy, 30 miles off the coast. The sea conditions out there normally run three to five feet, but can often climb to ten feet,” he said. Featuring the C. Raymond Hunt-designed deep-V hull, the all-aluminum vessel measures 75.8 ft.

19 Jun 2007

Lake Charles Orders Another Gladding-Hearn Pilot Boat

The Lake Charles Pilots, which operates on the Calcasieu ship channel in southwestern Louisiana, has ordered its third pilot boat from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation. Delivery is scheduled for February 2008. According to Lake Charles pilot, Capt. Mike Miller, the new boat order was prompted by plans for more than 400 LNG tankers traveling to terminals on the Calcasieu River by 2008. Featuring the C. Raymond Hunt-designed deep-V hull, the all-aluminum vessel measures 75.8 ft. overall, with a 20.6-ft. beam and a 6.8-ft. draft. At the shear is a heavy-duty, 12-inch D rubber fender in addition to tires. With a top speed of 27 knots, the boat will be powered by twin Cummins QSK38M diesel engines, each producing 1350 Bhp at 1900 rpm.

27 Jun 2006

Oil Spill Cleanup Continues on Calcasieu Ship Channel

The Coast Guard opened the Intracoastal Waterway at Calcasieu River to all commercial traffic. The ICW remains closed to recreational traffic from the Calcasieu Lock to mile marker 242. A temporary Vessel Traffic Service, staffed by Coast Guard personnel and industry stakeholders, is coordinating commercial vessel traffic transiting the ICW. Approximately 20 miles of the Calcasieu Ship Channel remain closed due to the spread of oil from a spill at the CITGO Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex Tuesday. The Coast Guard has established a safety zone in this area and is enforcing it with patrol boats. The safety zone stretches from light 116, north of the Interstate 210 bridge, to light 56, south of Calcasieu "Big" Lake. Prien Lake and Moss Lake also remain closed.

22 Jun 2006

Unified Command Established to Oversee Oil Spill

An oil spill is contained June 21, near a crude oil tanker at the Clifton Ridge terminal along the Calcasieu River. The cause of the spill is under investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard and CITGO Petroleum Corporation. The CITGO Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex, the Coast Guard and the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office have established a Unified Command to manage the clean up and recovery of the oil spill in the Calcasieu Ship Channel near Lake Charles. Recovery efforts began Tuesday night after receiving reports of oil in the Calcasieu channel near CITGO's Clifton Ridge Terminal. The recovery operations represent an expansion of activity that began in response to heavy rainfall and partial flooding, which overwhelmed the CITGO's waste water storage tank area and dikes.

27 Sep 2005

Houston Ship Channel Access is Limited

HOUSTON - The Coast Guard Captain of the Port has reopened waterways in and around Texas, Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico with some restrictions. The Houston Ship Channel is open to all tug and barge traffic, daylight transit only. The channel is also open to vessels drafting less than 35 feet. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GICW) is open to all tug and barge traffic, daylight transit only, from mile marker (MM) 277 to MM 350 and from MM248 (Devall West Fleet) to MM 266. The Calcasieu, Neches and Sabine Rivers are open to tug and barge traffic, daylight transit only, with the exception of the Calcasieu River to Cameron. Entergy repair personnel and Coast Guard personnel are working to remove a downed power line in the vicinity of MM 268 of the GICW.

28 Sep 2005

Waterways to Reopen after Rita

The U.S. Coast Guard announced that the Houston Ship Channel is open to vessels of less than 35 ft., daylight transit only. The Freeport Ship Channel is open to vessels of less than 40 ft. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is open for daylight transit from MM 317 to MM 242. The Neches River is open to daylight transit of tug and barge traffic from Beaumont to Sabine Pass. The Calcasieu River is open to daylight transit of tug and barge traffic from the I-10 Bridge to Cameron. A press release states that the daylight only restriction on the Houston Ship Channel has been lifted.

29 Sep 2005

Hurricane Rita Waterways Update

The U.S. Coast Guard issued a Press Release updating the status of waterways affected by Hurricane Rita. The port of Freeport is open for all vessel traffic. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is open to tug and barge traffic between the Colorado Locks and the Calcasieu Locks. The port of Galveston and the Galveston Channel are restricted to vessels with drafts of 35 feet or less and daylight transits only. The port of Texas City and the Texas City Channel are restricted to vessels with drafts of 35 feet or less and daylight transits only. Barbours Cut is restricted to vessels with drafts of 35 feet or less and daylight transits only. Bayport and the Bayport Channel are restricted to vessels with drafts of 35 feet or less and daylight transits only.