Posted on April 20, 2021
After a few years of battling sticky mud, high water, hurricanes and sandy shoals, smooth sailing appears to be ahead for the Morgan City Harbor & Terminal District Commission.
On Monday, the commission took a step toward buying the land needed to more than double the river frontage of its dock if a state grant comes through. Commissioners also heard that federal funding appears secure for dredging key portions of local waterways where sediment buildup is a problem.
“With ports, if you’re not growing, you’re falling behind …,” President Joseph Cain said at Monday’s regular monthly meeting. “I think you can feel a little excitement here.”
The Coast Guard, meanwhile, is less than excited about vessel groundings at Stouts Pass on the Atchafalaya River north of Berwick.
“We’re going to start taking very aggressive action,” Lt. Lanette Jeanes told the board.
Dock
expansion
The board voted without objection to authorize $400,000 for the purchase of land next to the port’s existing dock, provided the board wins approval of a grant from the state Port Priority Program. An expansion of the dock using that property would add 1,000 feet of frontage to the existing 900 feet.
One snag in the purchase developed when the port board’s appraisal of the property came in at $370,000, and the lower of two appraisals commissioned by the landowner came in at $600,000.
Cain was concerned about a price so much higher than the port’s appraisal. He was able to get the landowner down to $400,000, but no lower, he said.
“It was in the range of being acceptable, we thought,” Cain told the board members. “We hope you think so.”
The purchase is also contingent on a Phase II environmental site assessment, which is usually an examination of whether a tract has toxic substances beneath the surface.
The grant from the Department of Trans-portation Development’s Port Priority Program would pay for 90% of the construction costs. The board would pay for the remaining 10% of construction plus other costs, including engineering.
The board also approved $15,000 for engineering work on the dock expansion by the T. Baker Smith firm.
Special Projects Coordinator Mike Knob-loch said state legislation under consideration could speed up reimbursement under the Port Priority Program.
Dredging
One of the Port of Morgan City’s long-sought goals is to open its connection to the Gulf by way of the channel from Crewboat Cut to the sea buoy.
From Eugene Island south, the agitation barge employed by Brice Civil Contractors continues to battle the sticky “fluff” mud that makes navigation difficult in ports around the world. The company has received about $10.9 million of the $14 million currently authorized for the project by the federal government.
A Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. dredge is due to begin work between Crewboat Cut and Eugene Island, where sand is a problem. The dredge is now due to begin work in late May or early June on a $13.8 million Corps of Engineers contract.
The authorized depth is 20 feet, and the authorized channel width is 400 feet. A channel with those dimensions is seen as a key to allow large cargo vessels to reach the port with economic spinoffs for the community.
Farther north, the U.S. Corps of Engineers dredge Jadwin is due to arrive in May for work that includes the Stouts Pass area, where shoaling makes navigation difficult.
Tim Connell of the Corps of Engineers reported those developments and said funding for the work appears secure into the 2021-22 federal fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
“We’re in good shape right now with what we’ve got in the pipeline and what we have in contracts,” Connell told the board via Zoom. “I’m more optimistic than I’ve been since I’ve been working on this project.”
Coast Guard
Jeanes told the commission that of the last 36 incidents investigated by the Coast Guard in this area, 21 involved grounded vessels, and 15 of them were at Stouts Pass.
She said the Coast Guard will be pushing for mariners to obey safety rules and to provide accurate information, including how low their craft ride in the water, as they approach the area.
Stricter rules are also in the works for the area near the Bayou Chene Flood Control Structure, an $80 million project now under construction.
The structure has been struck by vessels several times, Coast Guard Lt. Hayley Gipson reported, and the work is entering a critical phase in the next few months.
Vessel transits were up 8% in March from the same month in 2020. Transits average 75 per day, Gipson said. Commercial transits were down in March, but passenger and supply vessel traffic was up.
