Central Gulf Coast News

U.S. energy companies on Thursday began airlifting workers from Gulf of Mexico oil production platforms and moved vessels from the path of what could become a devastating hurricane by the weekend.A storm is brewing in the Caribbean Sea and is forecast to grind through the main oil-producing region of the Gulf. It could become a major hurricane ahead of landfall on the central Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said. Hurricanes with winds of up to 111 miles (178 km) per hour are classified as major and can bring devastating damage onshore.BHP…

Chevron Corp and Occidental Petroleum Corp said on Thursday they were withdrawing staff and implementing storm precautions at their U.S. Gulf of Mexico offshore facilities ahead of a brewing tropical storm.A weather disturbance over the Gulf of Mexico could become a tropical storm by Friday and take aim at the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts, the U.S. National Weather Service said on Thursday.“All of our facilities have plans to prepare for weather-related events and are implementing those procedures,” Occidental said on its website.

Energy companies on Monday began evacuating offshore oil platforms as the 25th named storm of the year formed in the Caribbean and was forecast to become a major hurricane before it entered the Gulf of Mexico and threatens the U.S. mainland.Tropical Storm Delta was expected to rapidly strengthen and become a Category 3 hurricane with up to 120 mile per hour (194 kilometers per hour) winds. It was about 160 miles south southwest of Negril, Jamaica, on Monday evening and moving west at 8 mph.Delta will bring rain…

The end of the 2019 saw some unprecedented funding measure pass through Congress and signed into law by President Trump. The Gulf and East Coast have continued to receive significant funding to help deepen and widen navigational channels and gateways. One of the projects passed into law included the Gulf Coast Regional Demonstration Project. Some of the ports receiving funding and underway include Mobile, Baltimore, Houston, Port Everglades and Norfolk. All these projects funded by Congress draw a direct correlation to the expanded Panama Canal.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' FY2020 Work Plan release on Monday places dredging at the forefront.“We welcome the FY 2020 Work Plan released by the Army Corps,” said William P. Doyle, CEO of the Dredging Contractors of America. “We’re ready – our dredging companies are hard at work on projects and continue to build new dredging ships for America’s ports, waterways and beaches.”The Work Plan is based on the FY2020 Energy and Water Development appropriations bills signed into law by President Trump in December 2019.In December 2019…

Waves began to batter parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday as the region felt the first hit of Tropical Storm Gordon, which is expected to become a hurricane before it comes ashore with high winds and heavy rain, forecasters said.The storm also caused a jump in global oil prices after the evacuation of two oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.Gordon was due to come ashore late on Tuesday near the border between Louisiana and Mississippi, and drop as much as 12 inches (30 cm) of rain in areas still recovering from last year's hurricanes…

Beier Radio, LLC says that with Sentinel Controls it has relocated operations to a new facility in Gray, Louisiana, along the bustling Central Gulf coast near Houma. In addition, Beier Radio’s corporate office for administration and sales has moved from Belle Chasse to Mandeville, Louisiana, north of New Orleans. The move consolidates Beier Radio’s engineering, service, parts, and training departments, and Sentinel’s manufacturing operations at the new Gray campus, putting the companies in closer proximity to Port Fourchon, the intermodal port of choice for much of the Central Gulf energy activity. The new facility is located along U.S. Highway 90, providing both Beier Radio and Sentinel with more efficient access to their marine clients for equipment design, installation and service.

The Marine Training Institute advises that classes are filling up quickly for ECDIS & DP training at its new technologically advanced facility situated on the central Gulf Coast near Houma, Louisiana. Beier Radio explain that it opened The Marine Training Institute in January 2014, specializing in USCG approved ECDIS certification courses and type-specific ECDIS training, as well as basic and advanced DP Operator training. Students can master there the operations of vessel technology using simulators that apply real-world skills to the real-world challenges of the marine environment during four and five day sessions. The Marine Training Institute is the only full time ECDIS training facility along the Gulf of Mexico, say Beier.

Beier Radio was established in 1945 as a family business in a garage workshop. In 1945, two-way radios were the most technologically advanced electronics on the market, hence the name Beier Radio. As the technology has evolved, so has the company, and although Beier Radio continues to sell and service radios, this is only a small part of its business today. The company has remained on the cutting edge of technology, and today it manufactures, sells and services vessel control systems…

Imtech Marine is pleased to announce the addition of two Area Sales Managers to the Radio Holland USA team. Mike Pizer of Houston, and John Schwiering of Ft. Lauderdale recently joined the Radio Holland sales team, adding more than 40 years of navigation and communication experience to the RHUSA sales organization. Radio Holland is a member of the global company Imtech Marine. Recently Imtech Marine announced the expansion of its service network in the USA to a total of 15 ports and its intentions of further growth to provide on the spot quality service to ship owners.

Tropical Storm Barry, the second of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season, formed in the eastern Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Barry had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, barely strong enough to be classified as a tropical storm. Tropical weather systems are given names when top winds reach 39 mph. At 3 p.m., EST, the center of the storm was about 320 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River at latitude 26.3 north, longitude 84.8 west. It was headed to the northwest at about 5 mph and was expected to turn gradually to the west-northwest on Friday. Forecasters said it could strengthen in the next 24 hours and storm alerts could be issued for the north-central Gulf coast on Thursday night.

The Coast Guard closed ports and waterways along the gulf coast on Sunday, as well as evacuating its own personnel and resources from out of harms way, in preparation for Hurricane Katrina's landfall Monday. More than 40 Coast Guard aircraft from units along the entire eastern seaboard, along with more than 30 small boats, patrol boats and cutters, are positioning themselves in staging areas around the projected impact area - from Jacksonville, Fla., to Houston - making preparations to conduct immediate post-hurricane search, rescue and humanitarian aid operations, waterway impact assessments and waterway reconsittution operations. All ocean-going commercial ships and Coast Guard regulated barges over 200 gross tons were ordered to leave port today if they were between mile marker 60…