OP-ED: Ballast Water and Barge Trains on the St Lawrence Seaway

Written by Harry Valentine

Boats have for centuries sailed along inland waterways such as the Nile, Ganges, Danube as well as the Indus and Yangtze Rivers ferrying goods and people between numerous towns. Some boat designs that plied the inland waterways long ago were also capable of sea travel. Such has been the case along the St Lawrence River and the waterway that connects to the Great Lakes. However, many other waterways such as the Mississippi cannot provide passage to large oceanic vessels.

The transfer of bulk freight and shipping containers between oceanic ship and inland watercraft has proven to be feasible along the European canal network and the Mississippi River network. Water transport remains viable despite the presence of competing parallel railway lines and highways that provide access between the same commercial centers. The development of barges with V-notch sterns and dual-coupled bumpers has greatly eased barge train operations along the Mississippi.

Barges are a long proven maritime technology that can sail inland waterways without need to carry ballast water and can be adapted for viable operation along most other inland waterways. While barge-units of 35-ft width and 200-ft length operate along the Mississippi system, barges built to 50-ft width and 400-ft length carry freight along the Mackenzie River and into the southeastern channel of the Beaufort Sea during the summer months. These precedents set the stage for possible future barge train operations along the St Lawrence Seaway.

Ballast Water:

Authorities in the States of Wisconsin and in New York State have sought to impose ultra-stringent standards for ship ballast water. While the Wisconsin was unable to enforce their ultra-stringent standards for ballast water, New York State was in a unique position to literally halt shipping along the St Lawrence Seaway. The Snell and Eisenhower locks are located just inside New York State and provided an ideal location to inspect ship ballast water.

Federal officials in the United States were able to over-rule New York State on matters that pertain to ship ballast water. However, they left the door wide open for environmentalists from New York State to lobby Washington for cleaner future ballast water aboard ships that sail inland waterways. They have a basis to present their case using operational precedents from the Mississippi barge train network, where viable barge train operations prevail involving both bulk transport and container-on-barge (COB) operations.

St Lawrence Barges:

Future discussion on cleaner ballast water would likely include the possible future operation of ballast-free barges carrying bulk freight and shipping containers along the St Lawrence River. The impending arrival at the mouth of the St Lawrence River of container ships of 1200-ft length, 46-ft draft and 120-ft beam, requires some ship-to-ship transfer of cargo in order for the big ships to sail between the mouth of the St Lawrence River and the Port of Montreal, where river draft declines to 33-ft. Over the short-term, conventional ships will carry some international freight to and from the mouth of the St Lawrence and ports upstream of that location.

Future, stricter standards for ballast water would likely influence the design of watercraft that sails upriver of Montreal and into the Great Lakes. The barge is the only proven maritime technology capable of sailing inland waterways without need for ballast water. While the concept ocean-capable 1200-ft ship from SeaSnake Limited  (www.seasnake.net) can sail inland waterways without need to carry ballast water, only scale model prototypes of their technology presently exist. Their technology will need to carry ballast water for oceanic operation and does show future promise.

Future ballast water rules could introduce a variety of barge train technologies to the St Lawrence Seaway, including the Mississippi technology that can navigate into shallow-draft ports and navigate along shallow draft tributaries that flow into the St Lawrence River and into the Great Lakes. Mississippi barge train technology could navigate the Oswego River into Syracuse NY and the Genesee River into Rochester NY. The larger Mackenzie River barges could also sail the St Lawrence Seaway to deeper draft ports.

Big Barges:

The biggest barges that may sail the St Lawrence Seaway at some future time may be built to the draft and beam of present Seaway-max ships, with lengthwise coupling capability and an L/D ratio of between 6 and 9. Ship-to-ship transfer of bulk cargo and shipping containers may occur at the Port of Montreal or at a downstream port. The prospect of barge train operations upstream of Montreal would require the lengthening of the basins at the navigation locks going into Lake Ontario and perhaps on to the Great Lakes.

A pusher tug with a bridge set at high elevation above water may navigate an extended length, low-level barge train carrying bulk cargo. A barge train built to the draft and beam of Seaway-max vessels could carry containers at high elevation. One option would be to tow the coupled assembly, with the towboat providing electrical power to operate bow and stern thrusters on the barge train. The other would be for an unmanned, remotely controlled pusher tug to provide propulsion from the stern.

Remote Control:

In commuter railway operation, a locomotive may push from the rear while the driver is located in a separate driver station in the leading passenger carriage. Similar remote control technology may be built into a barge train, to allow a pusher tug to provide propulsion and steering control at the stern while the crew navigates the barge train from a bridge built on to the bow of a barge.

The barges would include control cables and power cables with quick release and quick connecting coupling capability, located at the barge train coupling points. Power cables would carry electric power from the pusher tug to the bridge to sustain operations, provide for crew comfort, allow for navigation that includes the operation of electrically driven steering thrusters placed at the bow of the barge train.

Dynamic Positioning (DP) is an evolving technology (www.autonav.com) that can assist in the navigation of extended length barge trains that sail on the Mackenzie River. It can remotely activate steering thrusters installed at strategic locations along a barge train. Such technology would likely appear on the St Lawrence Seaway where a remotely controlled pusher tug or a towboat may provide propulsion and navigation to extended length barge trains carrying containers and/or bulk cargo.

Automated Port Operations:

Future automated technology at ports that includes automated sorting, could transfer containers from arriving ocean ships to barge trains destined for different inland ports. Shallow draft barge trains may engage in multi-stop operations carrying containers to multiple shallow-draft ports, while big-scale barge trains would carry containers to major inland ports.

Conclusions:

Further discussions are likely in the future in regard to ballast water on the St Lawrence Seaway. Proven technology already exists that may be adapted to operation along that waterway. Viable barge train operations involving containers and interline with oceanic ships, is also proven. The combination of stricter ballast water rules and the largest container ships afloat arriving at the mouth of the St Lawrence River set the stage for possible future barge train operations along that waterway.

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About the Author

Mr. Valentine holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, with specialization in thermodynamics (energy conversion) and transportation technology.

He served as a research assistant to Dr Ata Khan, professor of transportation engineering who is still on staff at Carleton University.  Mr. Valentine has a background in free-market economics and has worked as a technical journalist for the past 10-years in the energy and transportation industries.

Over a period of 20 years he has undertaken extensive research, authored and published numerous technical articles in the field of transportation energy.  His economics commentaries have included several articles on issues that pertain to electric power generation.

Mr. Valentine has technical journalistic experience covering low-grade and high-grade geothermal energy, steam generators (with continuous blow down to keep the boiler water clean), engine exhausts, solar thermal (low-grade and low-grade thermal), nuclear and coal-fired thermal steam-power stations.

He can be reached at [email protected].

MarEx does not necessarily endorse any opinions herein.