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Wednesday, Sep. 9, 1998
Port authority approves bridge, fireboat projects
$2 million vessel will improve emergency response
By GLASTON FORD
Staff WriterThe Port of Corpus Christi is about to close a gap in its emergency response capabilities.
The port commission on Tuesday awarded a $2 million contract to Steiner Shipyard of Bayou La Batre, Ala., for construction of a marine firefighting vessel.
The need for a water-borne firefighting vessel, long a topic of discussion, took on new urgency in July 1995 when lightning started a fire on a barge loaded with the flammable chemical toluene. The barge was out of reach of regular firefighting equipment and a tugboat had to be rigged with a hose from shore to spray foam on the fire.
Industry needs and welcomes the firefighting vessel, said Rich Tuttle, spokesman for Koch Refining Co. L.P. ``This is certainly a project that we support and the community will benefit from,'' he said.
The vessel, a specially equipped barge, will handle fires on barges and large commercial vessels, said Tony Alejandro, the port's industrial relations officer.
The vessel will be paid for by a special tariff on ships and barges entering the port, he said. The details of the tariff still have to be worked out, he said.
Crews from the Refinery Terminal Fire Company will operate the vessel.
The vessel will fight not only fires on ships, but fires on land that can be reached from the harbor, said Bob Andrews, vice president and fire chief of the refinery company. ``We are proud to be a part of the process and we, like everyone else, hope that it will only be used in training.''
Construction on the barge should begin immediately and be completed in a year, he said.
The project is long overdue, said Bill Dodge, chairman of the Port of Corpus Christi. ``It has been a project four years in the making,'' he said. ``And Mr. Alejandro has done an excellent job shepherding that process along.''
Some recent fires in the Houston Ship Channel highlight the need for these capabilities, Dodge said.
In addition to the $2 million contract awarded Tuesday, the vessel will also take $1 million worth of specialized equipment, Alejandro said.
The refinery company is ordering that equipment because it has the firefighting expertise, Alejandro said. The equipment includes fire pumps and diesel engines, a telescoping boom -- originally designed to pump concrete into high rise buildings -- small propeller-driven thrusters to help position the barge, and devices that shoot foam and water from the deck of the boat.
The barge will only have a limited ability to move itself and will require a tugboat to get it to the fire, he said. Originally, the port wanted a guaranteed one-hour response time from the tugboat operator.
But the only way to guarantee that was to have a tugboat and crew on site at all times, a costly option, he said. So the port has decided that a guaranteed three-hour response time is more realistic, he said.
The Port of Houston has three firefighting ships, said Caleen Burton-Allen, spokeswoman for the port. The ships, which are staged at various points along the 25-mile Houston Ship Channel, are operated by Port of Houston personnel.
The port commission also approved a services agreement with the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program, formerly the Corpus Christi Bay National Estuary Program. The port committed $75,000 a year for the program and will provide free office space and some administrative support. The commission also appointed Commissioner Bernard Paulson as its representative to the Estuary Council of the program.Post your comments about local news eventsFront Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web