Fourth Barge Incident on the Lower Mississippi
A fourth barge incident on the Mississippi River closed off navigation near New Orleans for several hours early Friday morning, Coast Guard officials said. The river section has since been reopened.
Initial reports suggested that seven barges had broken free when a tow struck a fleeting area; the Coast Guard said in a statement Friday that six barges from the fleeting area broke away and have since been secured.
About 20 gallons of petroleum product was reportedly discharged into the river in the incident, but authorities say that there is no additional risk of pollution.
A USCG Eigth District spokeswoman confirmed that the vessel involved was the ATB Lucia, homeported in Philadelphia and owned by Penn Maritime, a division of Kirby.
In addition to the statement, the USCG provided video of the scene.
Port of New Orleans spokesman Matt Gresham told the Times Union that a towing vessel was headed upriver when its tow hit moored barges at an oil facility in Gretna, Louisiana, across the river from New Orleans.
The latest barge incident follows three others this week, including two strikes on the Vicksburg Railroad Bridge in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
The towboat Robert D. Byrd allided with the Vicksburg bridge early Thursday morning, the USCG said, closing it again for another inspection less than a day after its reopening. The Mississippi's waters were above flood stage and rising in Vicksburg as of Wednesday. No barges broke free in the allision.
On Tuesday, the AEP River Operations towboat Ron W. Callegan and her tow of several dozen barges also struck the Vicksburg railroad bridge. Nine barges containing coal broke away; four reportedly sank.
The Army Corps of Engineers and a surveyor are examining the sunken barges to determine whether they pose a hazard to navigation.
Lastly, the SCF Liquids towboat Cynthia G. Esper and her tow of chemical barges allided with the Highway 49 bridge over the Mississippi in Helena, Arkansas on Monday night. The bridge was closed for inspection but no damage was found; it was reopened early on Tuesday.
Four barges broke away in the Helena incident, the USCG said, and all were secured by the early hours of Tuesday morning. Two barges containing several million gallons of denatured alcohol were damaged and taking on water, but a USCG spokesman said that no pollution had occurred and the barges would be emptied.
The USCG provided an update on the Helena response Thursday with news that barge lightering was complete.
Some 2 million gallons of denatured ethanol was successfully removed from the barges – but over a four day period, about 300,000 gallons leaked into the water. The investigators said that the ethanol quickly mixed into the water column and would not be recoverable, but they notified water intake facilities in the area of the release.
Investigations continue in the incidents.