New Orleans to ban deepwater shipping if Mississippi floods rise over 18 feet

THE US Coast Guard was preparing to restrict vessel traffic at the Port of New Orleans as Mississippi floodwaters headed south raising water levels to 17.5 feet (5.33 metres), and ready to ban it they hit 18 feet (5.48 metres), and close the port entirely at 18.5 feet (5.63 metres).


Over the weekend, water levels were at 17 feet, high, but not high enough to negatively impact port operations. Upstream, some 25 barges broke loose near Baton Rouge. Two of them hit a bridge before being secured, reported CBS News.


Meanwhile, the US Army Corps of Engineers was working to divert water through two upriver spillway channels to keep water levels low enough to avoid ship restrictions.


Mississippi and New Orleans are important to grain, steel and other commodity exports, reported Newark's Journal of Commerce. It also serves refineries that account for 10 per cent of American petroleum needs.


Should the river rise to 17.5 feet at New Orleans itself, restrictions on deepwater ships will be enforced on a 240-mile stretch between Baton Rouge to the mouth of the river, said US Coast Guard port captain. Edwin Stanton.


Restrictions would include daylight-only movement, mandatory tug assistance around the 90-degree bend at Algiers Point opposite the French Quarter, and a requirement that ships masters stay on board at all times.


"We believe the Army Corps goal is to not let the Carrollton gauge [at New Orleans] reach 18 feet and we are confident they have the controls and the mechanisms in place to achieve that goal," said port CEO Gary LaGrange.


"Every day that this river is closed, the detrimental economic consequence not to New Orleans but to the entire United States is US$295 million a day and it grows exponentially after the fourth day," Mr LaGrange said.
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)